


Six, I | The Outcasts

by Milletrye



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fantrolls, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-23
Updated: 2014-02-13
Packaged: 2017-12-24 09:35:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 32,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/938393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milletrye/pseuds/Milletrye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Priley moves to another part of Alternia to find out more about his ancestor, it is only a matter of time until he meets Thikin, a rustblood far from behaving like this world's society wants him to. But Thikin is not the only one being different: a mutant, a male jadeblood and a blueblood with the strength of those far lower than his caste soon become Priley's new friends. As relationships are formed and secrets told, Thikin reveals that there is more to Priley's arrival than ancient history. All six of them are meant to play a game that will cost them their lives - or make them gods.</p><p>...wait a moment, six?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

[ ===> ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1182859)

\---

„Oh, what a beautiful sky we have tonight!”

Priley looked up. The boat, no, the hiveboat he stood on shook a little as it drove on the sea of Alternia, the shore not even half a mile away. The planet had two moons – one pink, one green – and they both were clearly visible from the young troll’s perspective. The countless stars shined on his pale grey skin just like every night, but the troll never stopped enjoying it.

“Too bad I cannot take pictures tonight”, he sighed, knowing he had to focus on the land for once.

Tonight was the night Priley moved to another part of the planet, the night he left everything behind. Not that the place he came from wasn’t nice, quite the contrary. The troll had basically never gotten into any trouble, food had never been rare and the sky had been just as beautiful as it was now.

But Priley still chose to give it all up, to travel to a place he had never been before. He did not know what would await him, and maybe he was a little afraid of his new home. But there was no turning back and he knew it. He had a really good and importand reason, after all.

Priley took out the piece of paper he had stored in his labcoat’s pocket for weeks now and looked at it. Text written in Alternian letters was written on the sheet, a formal message from one highblood to another, trolls that had already died centuries ago.

The boy had found the letter in a library. He wouldn’t have cared for it on any other occasion, but those lines were about his ancestor, and more specifically, the location of his hive. 

Priley admired his ancestor just like any other normal troll would, even though he knew nothing about him at all – and he certainly didn’t need to be a scientist, which he was anyway, to search for the place the coordinates on the letter led to.

A familiar sound made him snap out of the quite recent memories. The troll looked around, not knowing where it came from for a little moment. He then saw the source of the noise: sitting just in front of him was his lusus, a tiny white platypus. 

Priley couldn’t help but smile when he saw the webfooted mammal that had chosen him so many sweeps ago. Just like every other troll and lusus, they had a symbiotic relationship: the lusus raised the troll who fed it in return. 

Some trolls got along better with their lusii than others did, and Priley was glad his lusus liked him as much as the troll liked the platypus. 

The strange mammal growled, interrupting the young scientist once again. Priley knew his lusus wasn’t mad at him, he never was. But the animal still stopped him from his thoughts, something that annoyed the troll every single time.

“You always do that, papa. Is it not possible for you to let me remember things for once? Those were some really interesting thoughts I had just now!”

The platypus let out a sound again, and Priley could have sworn it just rolled its eyes. 

“Oh, come on. I am not exaggerating and you know that. I could be on the very edge of a world-changing scientific discovery!”

Now even the troll knew that what he said was far from being the truth. He had never made an actual discovery, let alone a world-changing one. And he certainly would not make one by thinking about the time he spent with his lusus.

The platypus shared that thought and nodded, then walked over to the front of the boat.

“What is it?”, Priley asked a little surprised, following his lusus. 

But the boy soon found out that he didn’t have to wait for a reply. He already saw what he had been searching for the whole time: the estuary of the river on whose end the hive was said to be situated.

The troll then viewed the rest of the land ahead. Priley could not see over the wide forests in front of him, and a few miles away were huge mountains, one of them seeming like a volcano.

“I cannot wait to explore all of that!”

Priley looked at the little platypus again.

“Here we are, platypapa. Now we only need to get to the other end of the river.”

He sighed a little, realizing he would have to drive the boat against the stream.

“That could be harder than I thought.”


	2. Chapter 2

Priley looked at the estuary in front of him. Water slowly streamed out into the open sea, but the young scientist knew he should never underestimate its power. For all he knew, it could push his boat back with ease if he wasn’t careful.

The troll tapped his glasses with his fingers, something he always did when thinking about a problem that needed solving.

“We need to get in there without damaging the boat. At first we have to find out how strong the stream is, so we should tr- papa, what are you doing?”

Priley noticed the platypus just in time as it was about to jump from the boat and right into the water. He grabbed the creature and lifted it with an almost stern look on his face.

“You wanted to test it yourself, right? You know that is a stupid idea. You could get hurt!”

The platypus just growled once more, trying to get out of the troll’s grasp. The lusus soon figured it was of no use, however, and just stared at Priley.

The scientist was familiar with that glance.

“I know what you are thinking. ‘I am a platypus, I can swim. I saved you from drowning a dozen times when you were little, I can survive a little stream.’”

His voice sounded harsh, but still had a mocking tune to it. Priley and his lusus often joked around, another sign of the good relationship they had.

The mammal changed its expression and Priley sighed, realizing his lusus’ point.

“On the other hand, we will not get anywhere if we do not test the strength of the stream. But do you not think that there are much simpler ways than letting you do it all by yourself?”

The platypus shook its head.

“Fine. But do not blame it on me if something happens.”

Minutes later, Priley had tied a rope around his lusus’ body. If they really had to do this, the troll would at least make sure he could pull the platypus back if something happened.

“Are you ready?”, he asked slightly nervously.

Platypapa growled and nodded, stepping even closer towards the water. He did not seem afraid at all.

Priley nodded as well and grabbed the end of the rope. He did not have a very good feeling about this, but if his lusus was sure this would go well, then there usually was nothing to worry about. 

“Alright”, the troll said, watching the platypus jump into the water and swim towards the estuary. It stayed perfectly dry due to its waterproof fur as it made its way through the cold and salty water.

Priley shivered a little, both in anticipation and worry, as his lusus reached the river. It struggled with the stream for a moment and the tealblooded troll grabbed the rope a little tighter, fearing the platypus would not make it. But he soon loosened his grip again as his lusus proceeded with more speed and ease, showing him that the estuary was safe to cross.

“If he can do this, the boat will make it too.”, Priley nodded while Platypapa let himself get carried by the stream to get back to the boat. As soon as his lusus was close enough, Priley let go of the rope and grabbed the platypus instead, gently putting it down next to him.

“That was amazing, papa!”, he grinned, patting the lusus’ head. 

The troll then removed the rope from the platypus, only to receive a content growl from his custodian.

Priley stood up and went to the control desk, starting the boat again. He put his hands on the steering wheel and carefully drove the boat towards the estuary. The troll felt the sudden resistance as the stream pushed him back, but his lusus had proven that there was no need to worry. Priley bit his lip. Only a bit further…

Suddenly, driving became easier. There still was a somewhat big resistance, but in comparison to the moments before, this was a piece of cake. The boat had passed the estuary and now drove upstream, slowly passing a forest and the distant mountains. Priley constantly checked the coordinates, although he could not help getting carried away by the beautiful landscape from time to time. 

After about twenty minutes, the troll finally stopped the boat and grinned. He grabbed his lusus and lifted it so it could look over the guardrail.

“Alright, platypapa. We are there. What do you think?”

The platypus growled at the view it got. There was not much to see; on both sides of the river were woods. 

Priley just sighed.

“I know, I know, it is not the best view or anything. But we cannot live right next to the waterfall unless you want to get wet for the rest of your life nonstop!”

Then, he realized that his lusus _was_ a semi-aquatic mammal and sighed again.

“Well, at least I do not.”

The platypus made a noise that sounded somewhat like a giggle before it managed to break free from the troll’s grasp and jump into the water again, almost as if it wanted to prove what Priley had just realized.

The tealblood just looked around again, silently hoping for something more than just a forest. But both to his right and left there were nothing but trees. Just when he was thinking about exploring his new surroundings, Priley suddenly heard a noise. A noise that sounded like…

“Someone is in danger!”

Priley immediately thought about equipping his tonfa. _One always needs a trusty weapon_ , he believed. But he then decided against them, also knowing that there were a lot of ways to save someone without using brute force. 

With a quick nod at his lusus that had watched him the whole time, Priley jumped off the boat. Water splashed as he landed on the wet ground and his labcoat waved in the wind that blew around him as the troll ran into the forest.

His greatest adventure was about to begin.


	3. Chapter 3

Priley ran through the forest as fast as he could without tripping over his labcoat or other obstacles on the way. Following the yelling that became louder with every step he took, he could not help but wonder what he had gotten himself into.

Was it just an argument or an actual fight? How many people were involved? Would he even stand a chance?

The troll soon slowed down. Judging by the noise, the other trolls must now be right in front of him. He quickly ducked behind a bush – it would be foolish to stumble into whatever was happening without knowing anything about the situation. 

Priley tried lowering his breath so nobody would notice him. Even though this had been a rather short run, the scientist was still exhausted. As he calmed down, Priley listened to the conversation he could now clearly understand.

“You killed him!”, someone shouted in a mix of anger and sadness, although it was much more of the latter.

“You will pay for this!”, another troll exclaimed with more hate in his voice than the other one.

At least three trolls then, great. 

The third voice replied. And even though his answer was short, or maybe exactly because of that, his voice let Priley shiver. It was calm, yet had a sly, almost challenging tune.

“As if.”

Priley flinched as he heard the sound of an arrow being released, and shortly afterwards, the sound of someone being shot.

As the apparently less brave troll yelped again, the tealblood immediately stood up and revealed himself without observing the situation even once. But he had heard enough; no matter how high the murderer was on the hemospectrum, this was the time to act.

However, when he saw the other trolls, Priley did not say anything for a moment. The first thing he had looked for were their signs, the indicators of their places on the hemospectrum. The two trolls on the ground, both dead, Priley assumed, wore symbols of highblooded castes, just like the third member of their group who shivered but yet aimed his blade at the murderer, ready to fight. 

_This has to be a battle between the aristocracy then_ , Priley thought. The murderer stood in a position that did not allow the tealblood to see his symbol and blood color.

“Let him go”, Priley said, trying to sound as confident as possible. He actually was quite afraid of the situation, but now the other trolls had already seen him and he could not turn back. 

The murderer looked over to the tealblood and pointed an arrow directly at him. The troll was smaller than Priley and his clothes were rather simple, unlike those highbloods usually wore. His face was partly covered by a black hood, but Priley was able to see his eyes. The left one was black and therefore, he scientist assumed, blind. Around it was a huge wound that covered about half of the troll’s face, and Priley gasped a little when he saw it. This wound was in the troll’s blood color, just like every wound on a troll’s body.

And it was rust.

Rust, the lowest color on the hemospectrum. 

But how was that possible? How could someone this low be so dangerous? Priley was not prejudiced when it came to castes, but even he had to admit that this was rather unusual.

“I know what you think”, the murderer suddenly said, sounding both angry and slightly amused at the same time and still having his arrow ready to shoot.

The tealblood raised his hands, showing he did not have any weapons with him.

“I do not want a fight”, Priley explained slowly. 

The other troll just glared at him, becoming impatient.

“Then leave.”

Priley slightly shook his head without looking away from the murderer. 

“Let him go”, he repeated.

“Why should I?”

The rustblood sounded annoyed. Priley should now be even more careful with his words or the other troll would kill him in a second. The scientist considered coming up with the hemospectrum, but he soon discarded the idea again. The smaller troll did not seem to care about the caste system at all and bringing it up would be very foolish. But what else could Priley say?

“So?”, the murderer asked, making the tealblood realize he had just been standing there without saying a word.

Quick, Priley, think…

“Well”, he began, his voice clearly showing his desperation to find the right words. “You have already killed his friends, did you not? Leaving him alive would cause him more pain, mentally speaking, than killing him altogether.”

Priley sighed inside. This was far from his own opinion, he would never support something like that. And yet he somehow knew this was the only way to stop the rustblood.

The other troll indeed seemed to debate whether or not he should kill the highblood that had not said a word since Priley had appeared. After a few seconds, the murderer turned to the highblood, still aiming his arrow at him.

Priley held his breath. Would he shoot?

But the rustblood just glared at the higher troll.

“Haven’t you heard him?”, he snarled, again sounding quite annoyed. “Leave before I change my mind.”

The highblood nodded and ran away, without saying a word or even looking at his dead friends… if they had even been his friends at all. Priley knew too well that, especially for highbloods, most so-called friendships were only one troll taking advantage of another.

Now the rustblood faced the scientist once more.

“Why are you still here?” 

He did not sound like he was about to kill the tealblood, but Priley still decided to leave. His job was done, after all.

“Actually, I was just about to go back to my hive”, he replied a little nervously.

The other troll gave him a quick nod before kneeling down next to the dead bodies, searching their pockets for things Priley did not even want to know about. And while he knew he had to go, the tealblood still watched the murderer although he did not quite understand why he could not turn his eyes off the rustblood.

“Stop staring at me like that”, the other troll suddenly demanded, making Priley realize that he had not even seen the rustblood standing up again.

The scientist nodded quickly and took some steps backwards. The other troll sounded like he was losing his patience again, and Priley should probably really leave now.

“Of course”, the tealblood said, being just as nervous as before. “I should probably feed my lusus, you know how it is!”

The rustbloot just stared at him with his unsettling glance, not saying a word. _Stop with the pointless talking, you idiot_ , Priley thought. _That does not make it any better._

“Well then… goodbye! And, eh, maybe we will meet again?”

After Priley facepalmed inside at what he just said –meeting a murderer again, great –  he veered away from the rustblood, slowly going backwards, then turning around. When the tealblood had taken a few steps into the woods, he looked back one more time.

The rustblood was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

On the whole walk back to his boat, Priley could not stop thinking about the strange encounter with the murderous rustblood.

Who was he? Why was he like this? And most of all, why had he himself acted so weird around the stranger? Priley had the strange feeling that there were more reasons than him being socially awkward in general. 

Once again in this night, the growl of his lusus got Priley out of his deep thoughts.

“What is it n – oh.” The tealblood laughed a little when he noticed that Platypapa just stopped him from walking straight into the river.

“I should stop thinking so much, I see.”

The platypus rolled its eyes in response and crawled out of the water, sitting down next to Priley who kneeled down as well.

“I bet you are wondering how it was, no?”

Getting no response from his lusus – it probably could not wait for the response! –, the troll quickly explained what happened. 

“…and then he told me to leave, so I did. I still do not know what all of this was about, but no matter! There are more important things to do than wonder about an encounter like that, are there not? Like celebrating our new home with… with a good old scientific experiment! That is always a fun thing to do.”

Platypapa just nodded as usual when Priley wanted to do something scientific. There was no way the lusus could really help anyway – so it mostly just watched.

Minutes later, the tealblood had arranged his table on the grass between the river and the forest. The experiment he was about to do was better done outside, just in case something went wrong. There had hardly been a time one of his experiments had actually worked, but hopefully that would change tonight. 

Priley deployed the three chemicals needed on the table.

“Ammonium nitrate, ammonium chloride and zinc dust”, the scientist checked again and took a deep breath. _Let us hope it works this time._

Priley then grinded the ammonium nitrate and the ammonium chloride together, making a fine powder. Nothing happened, but he did not expect anything to happen at this point. There would only be an actual reaction when adding the third ingredient – and water.

The tealblood grabbed the spatula with the zinc dust and carefully moved it over to the powder. But just when he was about to add it, something suddenly crashed into him and made him fall to the ground. This caused Priley to let go of the spatula, and from this uncomfortable position, he could catch a glimpse on a giant, blue and green flame on the table, something that would have clearly killed or at least severely hurt him if not for…

“Y-you?”

The ‘thing’ crashing into him had in fact been another troll, and the scientist almost immediately recognized who was now standing in front of him.

“Thank me later”, the rustblood said in his usual calm voice. “And what were you even _doing_?”

Priley too stood up after realizing that the flame was gone again.

“Just a scientific experiment.”, he shrugged. “It seems to have worked a little better than expected.”

“Don’t tell me you were actually planning on almost dying”, the other troll replied, even sounding a little amused now.

“What?”, the tealblood replied, a little offended by those words. “No, I was not planning that! And…”, he slowly began to realize something, “…how did you even get here? And why did you not kill me?”

The rustblood only answered the second question, now turning to completely face Priley.

“Because we need you.”

“We? Who is we?”, Priley replied surprisedly. Were there even more murderous rustbloods in this area?

“You ask quite a lot of questions, Mage.”

“Mage? What are you talking about? I am a scientist, not a wizard.”

The rustblood looked at him with his unsettling, one-eyed glance. 

“That doesn’t have anything to do with what I am talking about”, he snarled. “You are a Mage, and I am a Seer. And neither of us can change that. So don’t waste time questioning that either.”

“It is just that I do not understand what you are talking about, Seer. Or do you have an actual name for me to use?”

The other troll sighed rather annoyedly, rolling his eye.

“My name is Thikin.”

“And you can call me Priley instead of Mage”, the tealblood nodded, holding out his hand.

Thikin looked at the hand bewilderedly, apparently not knowing what to do now.

“Now you shake my hand with yours.” Priley smiled at the rustblood who still just stared at the scientist’s hand.

“Why would I do that?”

Now it was the tealblood being confused. 

“Because that is what you do to greet someone! Have you never done that before?”

Thikin shook his head. “You have seen me, didn’t you? Did I look like a civilized upper class member to you?”

Priley felt a little bad for the other troll. “Well, no, I just –“

“The stop treating me like one!” Thikin exclaimed, balling his fists. Priley had the feeling he would never get a handshake from this guy.

“I am not –“, the tealblood started, but then changed his mind when he realized this would be of no use. “Look, Thikin. I realize I still do not know you, or understand about ninety percent of what you say, but I think…”

“What?”, the rustblood responded, calming down again.

Priley smiled. He was nervous, but he knew it was the right thing to say.

“I have the feeling that you might, you know, need someone help you… kill less?”

Thikin scoffed. “I have that under control, thank you.”

The tealblood fumbled with his pockets. “And, well… actually, I might as well need someone to save me from blowing myself up and stuff.”

The rustblood nodded now. “I will do that. My visions wouldn’t stop bugging me about it otherwise.”

Priley gasped a little. “So that is how you saw what would happen!”

Thikin nodded again.

“And that is why you are a Seer?”

“The Seer of Time, exactly.”

“And what kind of Mage am I? And do I have powers too, even though I am a tealblood?”

The rustblood simply shrugged. “You might, but you’ll have to find out yourself. That is part of what a Mage of Mind does, anyway.”

“I hope my title does not involve magic though”,  Priley admitted. “I do not believe in magic.”

“I don’t think it does. Some titles don’t have to be taken literally, I guess.”

“Good!”, the tealblood grinned. “And what titles do the people you mentioned before have? And when do I get to meet them?” Priley did not have the feeling that they were bad guys anymore. Even Thikin was actually quite a, well, maybe not nice, but at least tolerable person.

“How about now?”, the rustblood asked. 

“That would be great! But do they have time?”, Priley wondered.

“My visions tell me they are currently meeting up.”

The tealblood laughed a little. “You sure are proud of your visions, are you not?”

Thikin sighed again, but Priley could tell that he was not mad.

“Yes. Yes, I am.”


	5. Chapter 5

„You know what I do not understand?“

Thikin sighed. “What?”

“Why did the experiment happen like that? The flame should only have appeared when I added water, and I had not done that!”, Priley explained as he followed the rustblood through the forest.

“Well, if you say so, then it’s probably because you were doing it right next to a river. Which is full of water, smartass.” 

Thikin sounded rather annoyed as the tealblood asked yet another question.

“And Thikin?”

“What?”

“Are we moirails now?”, the scientist wondered both happily and curiously. “I have never filled a quadrant before!”

The rustblood rolled his eye, but this remained unnoticed to Priley, who was walking behind him and therefore could not see his face. 

“Will you stop asking that many questions if I say yes?”

The tealblood stayed quiet for a second, thinking. “But that is what being a scientist is about! I cannot just stop doing what I have been doing for all of my life, can I?”

Thikin suddenly jerked to a halt, raising his hand and still not looking at Priley. He instead focused on what was ahead of them, and the tealblood could now hear a few voices as he stopped right behind his… moirail? 

“Are we moirails now?”, Priley whispered confusedly, but the rustblood did not answer the question.

“Wait here”, Thikin groaned instead before stepping out of their hiding place, revealing himself to whoever was out there. 

The tealblood did not want to make his more or less moirail mad, so he stayed where he was, trying to listen to the conversation that was taking place now.

“Greetings.” That was Thikin’s voice. It was hard to tell how he felt, however – he sounded absolutely unemotional.

There was a short pause. Nobody seemed to have expected Thikin. But then Priley could hear someone else; someone that did not seem glad to see the rustblood.

“Thikin, what do you want?” The voice was kind of deep, a little annoyed and had a suspicious undertone.

The rustblood stayed completely calm – had Priley really expected something else?

“I just have an announcement to make, Gwilyn. Nothing to hate me for. In fact, you should rather be glad.”

“Glad?”, the other troll, Gwilyn, replied. “I would only be glad if you are going to tell us that you will leave forever. Which you most likely won’t.”

Thikin spoke again, still not enraged by Gwilyn’s words. 

“Don’t worry, that is not what I wanted to tell you.” He paused for a second, before announcing:

“I have a moirail now.”

So it was official! Priley smiled a bit. He had the feeling this relationship would become very important, especially with the… whatever Thikin had actually been talking about before.

Now Gwilyn seemed even more suspicious.

“A moirail? Thikin, stop messing with us. Everyone here knows you will never fill any of your quadrants.”

“Gwilyn, stop saying such things. You know he doesn’t lie.” 

Priley blinked. A new voice! This troll sounded somewhat stern, but also very calm. The tealblood could not really tell what exactly it was, but he almost found this voice… soothing. He quickly shook his head to get those thoughts out of his mind and focus again. 

“Thank you, Arlath.”, Thikin now said.

Arlath. _That is a nice name_ , Priley thought. Wait, what was he thinking again? 

“And now get over here.”

Several seconds passed before the tealblood realized that his moirail was talking to him. 

“I am coming!” Priley announced when he stumbled out of the hideout, brushing leaves off his labcoat. Now standing next to Thikin, the scientist could finally take a look at everyone else.

There were three other trolls on the small glade; Gwilyn, Arlath and a troll that had not spoken before. One of them, a tall blueblood with about shoulder-long hair and dressed appropriately for an upper class member, vest and all, eyed Priley suspiciously – that must be Gwilyn -, while a way smaller troll stood behind who seemed to be his moirail, not allowing the tealblood to see his blood color.

The last troll Priley noticed was a greenblood about as tall as the scientist himself, in a dark green jacket and with a look completely different from Gwilyn. The tealblood could tell this was Arlath, who else could this optimistic, friendly smile belong to?

Priley blinked when the greenblood suddenly spoke to him.

“So, what’s your name?”

The tealblood smiled back, a little startled by the sudden question.

“My name is Priley. Priley Rabara, to be exact. Existentialist, scientist, philosopher -”

Arlath laughed a little. “Well, that sure is good to know, I guess! I’m Arlath. Arlath Erelis… I don’t think I have that much to say about myself though.”

Then, the greenblood held out his hand. Priley gladly shook it, quickly glancing over to Thikin, who just rolled his one eye.

As soon as Priley let go again, the smallest troll basically stormed over to him, shaking the tealblood’s hand too. The scientist could now see the other’s blood color on the simple black shirt of the curly-haired troll with horns in the overall shape of a horseshoe: a very light brown, no, yellow – no, it was a bright orange! A color not on the spectrum, and this boy didn’t even seem to care.

“My name’s Jayven!”, the honeyblood exclaimed, making Priley wonder why such an enthusiastic guy had not said a word before. But he didn’t have to wait too long for an answer. Gwilyn too came over to the tealblood, still narrowing his eyes a bit. 

“And I am Gwilyn, his moirail.”

Priley nodded. He had not expected anything else. The blueblood would keep the mutant safe, that was easy to see. When he shook the other troll’s hand, the scientist noticed that Gwilyn’s handshake was not as firm as the one of his moirail, even though he was a highblood. And not as firm as Arlath's either... weird.

“Nice to meet you both”, the tealblood replied, smiling.

Thikin, unsurprisingly enough, was not at all interested in those cultivated formalities. He was just rolling his eye and glancing at the other trolls, mostly Gwilyn. When Priley finished greeting everyone, the rustblood cleared his throat.

“Now that you’re done shaking everyone’s hands, there are important things to discuss. Arlath, would you tell him about the game?”

The game? Was that what Thikin had meant with his weird implications?

Gwilyn groaned. “Are you saying he doesn’t know about it yet?”

“That’s what I’m saying, yeah.”, Thikin replied, sounding equally annoyed.

“Why didn’t you tell him? You know more about that thing than the three of us together.”

The rustblood nodded. “I know I do. But Arlath is the leader, not me.”

 _He is?_ Priley looked over to the greenblood again. _Well, it certainly suits him._

But Arlath sighed. “Thikin, I told you. I am not your leader.”

“You are a Prince, and most certainly the only one of us that could ever fit that role.” Those were Gwilyn’s words, and Priley could hear both honesty and respect in the blueblood’s voice. Jayven nodded to support his moirail.

Arlath raised his hands in defeat. “Okay guys, I give up! Believe what you want, the Prince of Breath doesn’t care. Maybe you’re right about all of this, yeah… but I just want to be your friend, not some authority everyone should obey.” He then shrugged. “I just want to enjoy the game, that’s all.”

Thikin took a step towards the greenblood, clearly sounding distressed. “This isn’t just a game, Arlath. We are causing the end of the world, if you haven’t noticed.”

Priley widened his eyes. “We are what?”, he exclaimed, totally shocked of what his moirail had just said. “For the love of science, are you insane?” This was nothing that would help him become a well-known scientist, this would kill them all!

“Finally someone to agree with me on this”, Gwilyn replied. The tealblood could hear how relieved he was.

But Thikin balled his fists and hissed, causing Priley to flinch at this unexpected sound. Jayven hid behind his blueblooded moirail and looked away from the rustblood. _That is why he never spoke_ , the scientist finally realized. _He is scared of Thikin._ This most likely had been fairly obvious for a while already, but the scientist tended to be a little slow.

Priley’s moirail spoke again, now that he had everyone’s attention. “Maybe you think it’s insane, maybe it even is. I don’t care. Because, you see, there is no way we _can’t_ play it. We have to, we were always meant to, and I’ll do everything I can to make everything work out.” 

Thikin now glanced at Arlath and Priley. “And that includes _you_ telling him about his, no, our fate.”

The greenblood nodded and turned to their new friend, smiling encouragingly at him, although Priley could tell that the other troll was not too happy with Thikin’s choice.

“Well, I guess we better get started then.”


	6. Chapter 6

„Okay, Priley. What do you know about the game already?“ The question Arlath asked was rather simple, although Priley had to admit there was basically nothing he could tell the greenblood. There was only one thing that came to his mind.

“All I know is that my title is the Mage of Mind”, the tealblood said proudly. He hoped the other trolls would be as impressed as he was himself, but all he received were some quite confused and surprised looks. Thikin obviously had a neutral expression – he had known about this all along, after all. Gwilyn, however, made it clear that he did not approve of this announcement and seemed... nervous, even. Priley frowned. 

“Is something wrong with that?”

Arlath shook his head, realizing they must have upset their new member.

“No, nothing’s wrong with that! It’s just that... Thikin said we would need both a player of Time and of Space to be able to win. And some of us aren’t really eager to hear that we now have to find yet another troll in the few nights we have left.”

Thikin shrugged, although his voice suggested that he too was one of the less sociable people of the group.

“No need to worry. You know I told you we would win sooner or later.”

Gwilyn interrupted him.

“And _you_ know that we have no reason to believe that you are absolutely right with that assumption.”

“Oh, shut up, Mage”, the rustblood replied, almost hissing that last word. Now Priley was the one to be confused.

“What, you are a Mage too? Is that allowed?”

“It seems so”, Gwilyn groaned, sounding like he wasn’t quite sure himself. “Thikin says so, after all.”

The rustblood smirked, hearing the sarcasm in the other troll’s voice. 

“We’ll see about that, Gwilyn. Now, Arlath, would you please continue? We don’t have too much time anymore, you said so yourself.”

Priley raised an eyebrow.

“Not too much time until what happens?”

Arlath sighed. 

“Until the game starts. Apparently, we can’t change the time we’re going to enter, and we have three nights for preparing ourselves for the end of the world.”

“But we will also create a whole new universe when we’re playing the game!”, the mutant, Jayven, suddenly replied from his position behind his moirail.

This immediately caught Priley’s attention. 

“A whole new universe? Is that true?”, he asked as he turned to Jayven, his voice full of excitement.

“Thikin said so”, the mutant said, sounding a little insecure now. There was something about his relationship with Thikin Priley did not understand yet... but what? 

The scientist looked at the rustblood, eager to find out more about the apparent purpose of the game.

“We will create a new universe, that’s right. Though I wouldn’t get too excited about that. I might be doing my best to keep everything under control, but that’s no excuse for thinking you’ll be on the safe side forever. As strange and unbelievable as it sounds, even I am not without fail.” The last sentence was accompanied by Thikin’s usual smirk.

Priley was a little afraid to ask the next question.

“And... what is the worst that could happen?”

After a quick glance to Gwilyn, Arlath remained rather vague with his answer. 

“Nothing good, that much is clear.”

Priley quickly understood that this, once again, must have something to do with the truly innocent-seeming mutantblood. Why were they all so overprotective? _Maybe I will ask Thikin later_ , the tealblood thought. _There are a lot of things I still want to ask him._

Then, Priley realized he still knew basically nothing about ‘the game’. 

“So, guys... is there anything else I should know?”

“Well”, Arlath started, “the game is called ‘SGRUB’. Other than that, there isn’t much Thikin told us about yet.” His voice made it obvious he wasn’t too content about that, especially because he was the leader. And Priley too was dying to know.

Thikin, however, only shrugged.

“There is a time for everything, trust me. I’ll give you more details about the entry when we have our sixth player.”

Gwilyn rolled his eyes.

“And when we have our sixth player, will you finally give us the discs as well?”

The rustblood nodded.

“As soon as I got them, yeah.”

“You don’t even have the discs yet?”, Gwilyn replied, sighing. “I have a feeling this won’t end too well.”

“That’s what you do as a Hero of Void”, Jayven said, laughing a little. “You’re grumpy about everything!”

His moirail nodded.

“Yes, and as the Heir of Light, you’re supposed to settle that.”

Jayven smiled at this, and Priley could not help but think about how wonderfully those two moirails matched. He wondered if he could ever get along this well with Thikin, the murderous rustblood he had met only hours ago.

And Thikin was the one who spoke up next.

“Anyway, you might be interested in hearing that I honestly have no clue about the name, or the appearance, of the missing Space player... for now. Which means that, if we want to make it in time, which I’m sure we do, we should start searching for player number six ourselves.” He nodded at Arlath. “And by ‘we’ I mean you and them –“, he quickly glanced at Gwilyn and Jayven, “– because I’ve got things to do.”

“Hey, what about me?” Priley felt indignant as Thikin already turned away to leave. Did his own moirail just forget him?

“I don’t care”, the rustblood simply replied. “As long as you don’t follow me.” 

And with those words, Thikin was gone.

Priley turned to Arlath, not sure what he should do now. The greenblood smirked.

“We all know that you’re about to follow him anyway. Just be careful, alright?”

Priley nodded and was just about to leave when he remembered something.

“Just in case we will not have time, or have any other trouble, for that matter, could I add you to my contacts on Trollian?” The tealblood knew how useful this online chat service could be.

“Of course!”, Arlath agreed, and after catching Gwilyn’s eye for a moment, he took out a piece of paper and a pen which he had carried in his jacket, and quickly wrote three usernames on it.

Priley grabbed the piece of paper as soon as Arlath was done and put it in a pocket of his labcoat, making sure he would read it later.

“Well then. Good luck with finding player number six, I suppose.” He cracked a smile at the three boys.

Arlath nodded, Jayven smiled... and Gwilyn still had this rather suspicious look. The tealblood sighed a little, hoping he would see him with another expression someday, then turned around and did his best to catch up on Thikin.

Priley did not think he would find his moirail this quickly, but he soon saw the rustblood walking just a few feet in front of him. The scientist saw that Thikin had just hunted something and was most likely about to return to his hive. Priley followed him as silently as he could so the rustblood would not notice him.

“Didn’t I say that you _shouldn’t_ follow me?”

Priley flinched a little when Thikin said that, thinking he had been doing rather well with being quiet. The rustblood did not even stop walking, causing Priley to accelerate in order to catch up. 

“Yes, but –“

“Just don’t say anything, alright?”, Thikin snarled. He seemed to be even more infuriated than last time Priley constantly talked while following his moirail.

The tealblood nodded, not even sure if Thikin could see that.

“You can follow me. This once. But do what I say, or you’re pretty much dead.” The rustblood continued following a path he seemed to know by heart, and Priley had no choice but to remain silent as he followed his moirail, even though he had dozens of questions on his mind.

Priley tried to at least be somewhat productive by looking around and attempting to make mental notes he would probably soon forget anyway about the flora and fauna of the forest they were in. It was a rather normal forest; tall trees, some flowers here and there, and a few creatures running and flying around. But as they proceeded, the sounds those creatures made became quieter, just as the plants lost their color, the flowers vanished... and from one moment to another, Priley found himself in a place where nothing even seemed to be alive in the first place. Now the noises seemed far away, everything was silent and gray. The tealblood’s own steps made the only sound and echoed in the distance; Thikin managed to walk without making a sound. Priley paused for a moment to look around this eerie place that sent shivers down his spine, this place he never thought could even exist.

Thikin soon noticed his moirail had stopped following him, and walked back to the tealblood, again with making almost no sound at all.

“Welcome to the Forest of No Souls”, he said quietly, not wanting to cause too much of an echo with his voice.

“My home.”


	7. Chapter 7

„Your… home?“, Priley whispered, now paying attention to not cause an echo as well. How could anyone live in such a place?

Thikin simply nodded, now starting walking again. The tealblood knew that he had to follow his moirail if he did not want to get lost, but even when catching up, he could not help but be amazed at the apparently lifeless forest. 

“Do you have a hive?”, Priley now asked. A rather unusual question, but with Thikin, about everything was possible.

“Not really”, the other troll replied, eventually stopping at the foot of a giant tree. When Priley arrived there as well, he was not able to see the top of it.

“What do you mean by that?”, the scientist wondered, still focusing on the tree to find its upper end.

Thikin shrugged. “I live in here.”

Priley quickly looked at his moirail again, only to find out he was gone.

“Hey, where did you go?”

Frustratedly, the scientist walked around the tall tree, soon finding a relatively small hole in the bark.

“Thikin?”, he asked, peeking inside the hole. Was there... a light? Priley’s curiosity took over him once again, and with slow steps, the tealblood entered the tree. The walls of the short passage did not feel like a tree’s bark at all, they were hard and dry like a stone. The light turned brighter the further Priley approached, and just when he wondered about the enormous size of the tree again, the path suddenly spread out. From one second to another, the scientist found himself standing in a hall, realizing that almost the entire tree was actually hollow.

There was no electricity, no windows, nothing that could be found in an average hive. In fact, there were almost no items in this place. But even though there was no lamp to provide light, the room was still lit – by about a handful of jars with fireflies inside. They made the shadows and reflections dance on the walls, and Priley gasped a little at the sheer beauty of the little insects and their effects.

The troll moved his eyes around the place once more, now focusing on a huge pile of objects not too far away from him. Thikin was already there, but Priley could not tell if he had noticed the tealblood yet or not – he would not be surprised if he had, however. 

Priley decided to take a closer look and stepped over to his moirail who did not seem to seek for any particular object as he shuffled through the pile.

“This place is amazing!”, the tealblood exclaimed excitedly, accidentally causing a quite eerie echo again. 

Thikin did not reply, so Priley continued, keeping his voice low this time.

“I... I did not know you own this little though. I am sorry.”

The rustblood scoffed. 

“This is all I need. And all I ever had. It’s fine the way it is, it’s not like I can’t survive”, he explained with determination in his voice.

“If you ever need anything –“, the scientist started, only to be interrupted by a quite angry sounding Thikin.

“I don’t. Stop asking, alright? I can perfectly stay alive without any mechanical devices. Or food I didn’t get myself.”

Priley sighed, realizing that he once again could not convince his moirail. 

“So... what is all of this stuff?” The tealblood leaned forward to examine the things in the pile, but Thikin almost immediately grabbed his hand. 

“Just some stuff some highbloods dropped”, he snarled. “No need to touch any of that.”

Priley nodded. He would give his friend the privacy he wanted, even though he knew what the rustblood meant by ‘dropped’. Now the scientist finally realized what he had been subconsciously searching for ever since he had arrived in the forest.

“Say, where is your lusus?”, he asked curiously, looking around the ‘hive’ once more in case he had missed it. 

Thikin grimaced as if he did not want to hear that question at all, and Priley wondered what could be wrong.

The rustblood tightened his grip on his moirail’s hand, and just when the scientist was going to protest, a loud noise echoed against the place’s walls, a sharp _caw_ , now sounding like there were hundreds of the same creature present. Priley immediately flinched. He knew there was just one bird, a crow, he assumed, and yet its voice sent shivers down his spine. _Just like Thikin_ , he realized, wondering if the rustblood had learned all of his behavior from his lusus.

“Hello, Crowley”, Thikin now said, even sounding a little inferior. The tealblood hoped it was just the low volume of his voice that made his moirail sound like this. If someone like Thikin actually was scared of another being... that must mean something.

“I have a moirail now”, the lowblood continued, his voice shaking very slightly. Priley gulped a little, and when he did not hear any reaction from the lusus, he slowly turned his head, only to find the white crow staring directly at him. Its gaze was strangely unsettling for a lusus, and the tealblood did his best to avoid eye contact.

“Greetings... Crowley?”, Priley began nervously, seeking support in the eye of his moirail. The rustblood stayed focused on his lusus, however. “My name... my name is Priley.”

The crow glared at the newcomer one more time, and the scientist could swear he just saw a flickering light emerging from the bird’s body. But before he could question that incident, Crowley let out another echoing caw and flew up again. From one second to another, the bird was gone.

Thikin finally loosened the grip on his moirail’s hand, sighing a little.

“Does that answer your question?”

Priley nodded, shaking his hand that felt a bit numb from Thikin’s grasp.

“I did not know your lusus is such a...” What was the word he was searching for?

“Hellbeast?”, Thikin replied, not sounding offended for once. “Yeah, he... he kind of is.” The rustblood scratched the wound around his eye when he said that. Priley widened his eyes when he noticed this.

“Did... did he...”

“Yeah.” The answer was plain and simple, and it might have been exactly for that reason that the tealblood was so shocked about the revelation.

“Thikin, I... I am so sorry”, the scientist exclaimed, trying to peek under the hood the rustblood had pulled down to almost completely cover his face. “I did not know you –“

“It’s not as bad as it looks”, Thikin even carelessly said, shrugging it off completely.

Priley blinked in confusion. 

“Really?”

The rustblood nodded, pulling his hood up a little to allow his moirail to look at the wound and blind eye.

“If he had never done this to me, I wouldn’t be able to have my visions. And without the visions, I would have nothing at all.”

Priley raised an eyebrow. Those visions could not be _that_ important, right?

Thikin seemed to guess what the tealblood was thinking.

“They aren’t as unimportant as you might think, Priley. Without them, I would never have seen my ancestor.”

This made more sense to the scientist, and at the same time, it reminded him of the research he wanted to do about his own ancestor. The troll sighed.

“I wish I would know as much about mine.”

Thikin smirked. 

“Nobody knows as much about their ancestor as I do about The Soulless. I have watched every moment of his life – and I know it is his path I have to follow.”

“The... Soulless?” That did not sound good. Not at all. But Thikin nodded proudly.

“Slaughterer of hundreds of oppressing, hemoloyal, highblooded idiots. Everything I know, I know it from him.”

Now it all started to make sense to Priley.

“Is this why you kill so many trolls?”, the tealblood asked anyway.

“Of course”, the rustblood replied, starting to walk around in his hive, his hands folded behind his back. “I will kill as many highbloods as it takes to get my point across and to actually change something. You see, my original plan was to kill the highest of all tyrianbloods... but unfortunately, there is a game we have to play. Not even I know what exactly will await us.” 

Thikin stopped, now glancing straight at his moirail again. 

“But I can guarantee it won’t be fun.”

The scientist had felt very uncomfortable while listening to the rustblood, and when the lowblooded troll finally paused, Priley figured it was about time to change the topic, especially now that he noticed his watch telling him that the blazing sun would soon appear.

“So, uh... Thikin, like I said... I still believe that moving to, you know, a more alive place would not be a bad idea. If you want to give it a try, I would be more than glad to help you with that.”

Thikin sighed, but he did not complain like his moirail had expected him to. Instead, he grinned, and Priley could tell he just gave the rustblood an idea.

“You can climb, right?”

The tealblood nodded, a bit confused by this unusual question. He was not the best climber, but he could at least do it.

“Well then”, Thikin smirked, “come on. I think I should show you something.”


	8. Chapter 8

„Didn’t you say you could climb?“, Thikin sighed, having already lost his patience. He was sitting a few branches over Priley’s head, waiting for him to catch up.

“I did not say I am good at it!”, the tealblood replied. “And climbing on - what is this, rock? – does not make it any easier.” He was quite startled by the touch of the surface. There was no way this was an ordinary tree! In fact, the rough and edgy bark had already caused a few tiny wounds on the scientist’s hands, and he had only managed to climb about one branch or two.

“Don’t say it like that would be my fault”, the rustblood groaned. “Do you need any help?”

“Help? No. No, I do not need any...” Priley looked down, already flinching a bit at the sight of the ground so far below. It were only about twenty feet – but if he fell, Priley knew this would be his death. “Alright, well... maybe I do.”

Only seconds after those words, Thikin climbed back to his moirail with ease. He did not hesitate at all, it was like he knew about every indentation to set his feet on.

“How do you do this?”, the tealblood asked, amazed by the other’s skills.

“Well”, Thikin explained, “first, there are my powers.” When the rustblood saw Priley’s shocked expression, he quickly added: “I’m not saying they’re essential for surviving. They just make it a lot easier.”

Priley rolled his eyes, trying to keep his balance on the branch he was squatting on. “As you might know, I do not have powers like you. So would you mind telling me how I can survive this without them?”

Thikin chuckled a little, now basically jumping down on his moirail’s branch. “First of all, don’t look down. I’ve got your back in case anything happens, so don’t worry about dying. And secondly, don’t stop. You can remain where you are for a few little moments to think about your next steps, but staying in motion is pretty much the most important thing of all if you’re not currently on a branch.” He nodded at his moirail, then looked at the tree. “Come on, try it out.”

“...fine.”, Priley mumbled, still a bit unsure about what he was about to do. But he trusted Thikin, and so he placed his hands on the cold trunk again. The tealblood looked up to find a spot to put his hands on, and as soon as he felt somewhat safe, he pulled himself upwards, quickly letting go with his hands after setting his feet on the bark.

“Much better”, Thikin commented from somewhere below. Priley paused for a short moment when he realized how far he had come by now, but then he heard his moirail again: “Don’t stand still!” This time, the noise came from a closer spot. Knowing that the rustblood was right below him and would save him if he fell, however the other would actually do that, the scientist continued climbing. Always keeping Thikin’s words in mind, Priley did not notice how easy the ascending actually went, and how high above the ground he already was. Determined to reach the top, the tealblood was so focused that he also completely missed his moirail passing him.

“You’re doing great.”

Bewildered by Thikin’s voice coming from above, Priley accidentally lost his grip. But before he could fall the now about a hundred feet down, the scientist felt the grasp of the rustblood’s hand.

“Don’t just hang there, get up here”, Thikin said, and the tealblood quickly pulled himself up to his moirail, knowing that the other troll would never manage to help him up alone. 

“Now, what was this for?”, Priley wondered as he landed on the tree’s top, clearly exhausted after all of this. 

“Take a look.”

The tealblood did what his moirail told him to do – and Thikin had to grab his arm once more in order for Priley to not fall down again. The scientist did not even reply to that, he just kept staring at what just presented itself.

Over them, no, all around them was the cloudless Alternian sky. Countless stars twinkled at the two trolls while the dawning sun already drowned the eastern horizon in its light. Priley had the feeling he could see all of Alternia; this treetop was almost the highest place around. The only taller objects in his sight were the mountains the tealblood had already seen when he arrived hours ago, and they were many miles away.

“Pretty sweet, huh?”, Thikin snickered, leaning back a little.

“Pretty _sweet_?”, Priley repeated stunnedly. “Thikin, I could stay here forever!”

“Don’t. The sun’s coming up.”

The tealblood giggled. “I am not that stupid, you know.”

“Of course not”, his moirail ensured him, now laying down completely to watch the stars. “But yeah, this forest is not such a bad place to be.”

Priley covered his still bleeding hands with the long sleeves of his labcoat. “This is not an ordinary forest.” He grimaced when his hands started to hurt – who knew how much dirt got into the wounds already.

“What, really? How’d you know?”, Thikin replied sarcastically. 

“It is so... cold”, the tealblood responded, completely oblivious to the sarcasm. Thikin just nodded. 

“You get used to that.”

Priley looked at the rustblood who was simply staring into space.

“What... what happened?”

Thikin didn’t move at all as he replied.

“Highbloods.”

The scientist had almost expected that answer.

“But... how?”

“Ever heard about cockatrices?”, Thikin asked.

“Of course!”, Priley nodded. “They are huge bird-like creatures that can petrif-“

The tealblood paused and widened his eyes in shock. 

“They... they actually...”

“Yeah.” Thikin’s answer made it obvious that he didn’t want to get into any more detail. “And no, I have never seen it un-petrified, if that’s what you were going to ask.”

“Thikin, I –“

“And stop with the apologizing already.”

“...sorry.”

The rustblood sighed, glancing over to the rising sun.

“We should get back down if we don’t want to end up completely blind.”

Priley gulped as he looked at the ground.

“Down... there?”

“Yes, down there. Obviously.”, Thikin responded, raising an eyebrow.

The tealblood’s voice shook slightly.

“I... I do not think I can do that...”

The rustblood laughed a little.

“I didn’t expect you to climb down, that’s a lot harder than getting up here.”

Priley looked at his moirail confusedly. 

“Then how are we going to get down?” There was no other way than climbing.

“We’re taking the shortcut”, Thikin explained, and before Priley could ask about what that was supposed to mean, the rustblood shouted out the name of his lusus.

“I do not see how that... demonic crow could help us with this.”

Only seconds after Priley had finished his sentence, the white bird appeared, its eyes glaring almost evilly. 

“That’s about the only time he’s actually being helpful”, Thikin smirked as he finally stood up. He grabbed his moirail’s arm – he still did not seem to be comfortable with holding hands – and looked back at his lusus.

“Nothing against you, of course. So, mind the shortcut?”

The bird let out one of its _caw_ s, a noise that still made Priley shiver, even though it was not echoing this time.

“Don’t let go”, the rustblooded troll now explained. The scientist was about to question this order since he was not holding onto anything, it was Thikin grabbing him. 

Then there was a bright flash of light – and from one second to another, Priley found himself standing back on the forest’s ground, the treetop far above him. Thikin was next to him, nodding upwards in order to... to what?

“Did... did your lusus just...”

“Yeah.”

“But that’s... that’s impossible!”

“I know.”

The rustblood was not as helpful as Priley had hoped.

“Thikin, what just happened?”

His moirail shrugged.

“Like you said, he just teleported us down here. Don’t ask me how, all I know is that this guy’s a little fucked up in various ways. Always was and probably will always be.”

Priley sighed. Would he ever get an answer from his moirail that was not stupidly vague?

“Whatever you say, Thikin... anyway, can you at least tell me how to get back to my hive before the sun is completely up?”

The rustblood nodded. 

“There’s a river not too far from here. If you follow it, you should get to your hive.”

“How convenient”, the tealblood smiled. “Will I see you tomorrow?”

Thikin shrugged once again. 

“I don’t know about you, but I will see you, at least.” With another one of his usual smirks, the rustblood quickly nodded as a gesture of saying goodbye – before leaving Priley standing in the petrified forest alone. The tealblood still had the smile on his face. His moirail was a weird troll, that was obvious. Maybe a little bit crazy.

“Whatever you say, Thikin... whatever you say.”


	9. Chapter 9

The next evening had quickly arrived. Priley had managed to return to his hive quite easily, and even soon after getting up, the tealblood knew what he was going to do tonight. 

He walked the few steps to his indoor laboratory that greeted him with the smell of various chemicals the scientist was dying to experiment with, but this time, he walked past the shelves and tables, activating his husktop. While the device with the engraved platypus on its back was turning on, Priley searched the pockets of his labcoat for the note Arlath had written him yesterday.

Priley launched the common Alternian chat client, Trollian, the second his husktop was done loading, adding the three names on the paper to the program’s contact list. A smile crossed the tealblood’s face when he saw Arlath being online – just the troll he had been hoping for. Not hesitating for a second, Priley wrote Arlath a message.

\-- existentialisticScientist [ES] began trolling wingedGladiator [WG] \--

ES: [Hello, Arlath. R)]

While waiting for the green text to appear, Priley started counting the seconds, hoping the other troll was actually oline at this early hour. He almost sighed in relief when the notification sound played.

WG: oh, hey!  
WG: let me guess, priley?

The tealblood chuckled a little.

ES: [Yes, that + would be me.]  
WG: why the plus?  
ES: [Just a - thing I do.]

That was true, and Priley did not know how to explain it. He just had the little quirk that made him type mathematical symbols every now and then, just like he put his sentences in brackets. Hopefully this was not too weird for Arlath.

WG: okay.  
WG: so what’s up?

The tealblood took a deep breath. He was glad the other troll did not mind his quirk, and now was the moment he would ask him... out? He did not know why he suddenly felt so nervous.

ES: [I w42 wondering - if you would like to x help me with some + ancestor research before - we play the game.]

Was he really asking Arlath out? No, right? This was just a meeting. A simple, normal meeting.

WG: i’d love to! 

He said yes! Priley finally breathed out, realizing how tensed up he had been for those few seconds. 

WG: we’ll <ome over!

Wait, was he planning to bring the other trolls along? And... how did he even know where the tealblood lived?

But before Priley could finish writing his response, another message popped up.

\-- wingedGladiator [WG] ceased trolling existentialisticScientist [ES] \--

\-- wingedGladiator [WG] is now offline. --

The scientist sighed. “I suppose I will have to wait and see”, he mumbled while turning off his husktop and getting outside as fast as he could, almost tripping over his labcoat. He still could not wait to see the greenblood again, and he sat down at the guardrail, his feet nearly touching the streaming water, and his eyes focused on the forest ahead of him.

Priley waited for minutes that seemed like hours to him, and he did not notice what was approaching him until it was right above the tealblood. Surprised by the giant shadow, Priley looked up, finding himself under an incredibly large... bird?

Just before he could equip his tonfas to attack the creature, it landed only a few feet away from the troll, allowing him to take a better look.

The bird was truly magnificent, having both the wings and body of an eagle and the tail and crest of a peacock. And riding on the large animal was Arlath, now jumping off his lusus and walking over to Priley, grinning.

“Were you seriously planning to attack us with those?”, the greenblood almost dismissively wondered while looking at the tonfas. Priley nodded, even though he now felt incredibly dumb.

“How should I have known that this is your lusus? It could have eaten me!”

“He’d never do that”, Arlath replied, chuckling a bit. “Nice hive you have there, by the way. A little wet, don’t you think?”

The tealblood shook his head as he finally stood up and jumped right over the guardrail on the grassy ground next to Arlath. His landing was not as elegant as the greenblood jumping off his lusus, causing the latter troll to laugh even more.

“Now, what is so funny about that?”, Priley groaned, although he was not all that annoyed at the other troll.

“You aren’t all that athletic, are you?”, Arlath asked, enjoying teasing the tealblood.

“Why is everyone I meet picking on me?”, Priley just sighed, thinking about a way to change the topic. “Did you not say ‘we’ when we wrote? Where are the others?”

The greenblood seemed genuinely surprised, then laughed once again. “The others? They aren’t coming, smartass! Just you and me and my lusus – because why walk when we can fly, right?”

“...right”, the scientist responded nervously, rubbing his neck. This time, Arlath immediately understood.

“You’re afraid of heights, aren’t you?”

The tealblood nodded, blushing slightly. 

“I suppose so...”

The other troll, however, just smiled once more.

“Hey, that’s not a bad thing! Just hold on tight and nothing will happen, I promise.”

“If you say so...”, Priley mumbled, narrowing the giant bird suspiciously. 

“Trust me!”, Arlath grinned, getting up his lusus with ease. He held his hand out to the scientist who hesitantly sat up behind the greenblood.

“Thank you”, he nodded, already clinging to the other troll’s olive green jacket. “So do I have to – hey!”

Before he could finish his question, Arlath had already signed his lusus to start, and the bird spread out its enormous wings, taking off in only a few seconds. Priley grabbed Arlath maybe a little too tight, even being too afraid to manage a scream. 

“Hey, relax. You’re doing great!”, the greenblood laughed, making his lusus fly a bit slowlier. “See, no need to worry. Peagledad won’t let either of us die.”, he added, stroking the white bird’s feathers. “Now, where did you say we’d go?”

“Oh, right!”, the tealblood nodded while trying to relieve stress, carefully loosening his grip on Arlath’s jacket. “I suppose we just need to follow this river to its end.”

“Sure thing”, Arlath agreed, signalizing the ‘peagle’ to fly over the stream. He turned his head to the tealblood, then nodded at the landscape beneath them. “Now, this isn’t that bad, is it?”

“I... I think so”, Priley replied, and he had to admit that Arlath was right. He had not expected flying to be this great, and even though he had already seen the beautiful night sky from the top of Thikin’s tree, this was an entirely different experience. He heard Arlath talk about various locations and probably a lot of other things, but the tealblood’s interest lied in Thikin’s forest they were now flying by. He tried to spot the rustblood from up here, hoping he might be sitting on any of the trees, but the scientist was not able to find him.

“You were there lsat night, right?”, Arlath suddenly asked, and Priley needed a few seconds to get his thoughts together.

“What? Oh, yes. Yes, I was. It is amazing! It has quite a sad story though.”

The greenblood simply shrugged a little. “I don’t think it’s that awesome, but alright.”

“Have you been there?”, Priley asked curiously. 

“Hm? Oh, uh... yeah. Once or so. Nothing that interesting”, Arlath responded quickly, almost as if he was trying to hide something. 

“Is something wrong?” Even Priley had noticed the other troll’s weird behavior.

“No, no”, the other troll hastily replied. “It’s no- oh, look! I think we’re there.”

When Priley leaned over to look down, Arlath’s lusus was already descending, causing the tealblood to cling to the other troll’s jacket again.

“Could you not have warned me?”, he exclaimed as the peagle became faster and only braked a few feet above the ground. Arlath just laughed, helping Priley to get off the bird as soon as it had landed. 

“So what are we supposed to find here?”, the greenblood yelled, his voice drowned out by the massive waterfall that seemed to be the river’s origin. Other than the huge amount of water and the mountain it emerged from, there was absolutely nothing to be seen here, leaving Priley both disappointed and confused.

“I do not understand!”, he shouted. “The coordinates say it has to be right here, I even used maps!” The tealblood walked around the small grassy place, looking for anything that could be related to his ancestor. 

Just as he was about to give up, Arlath seemed to have noticed something.

“Hey, Priley, you know what?”

“What is it?”, the tealblood wondered, walking back to the other troll who was now standing only inches away from the waterfall, already a little wet because of this. 

“I think”, Arlath started, leaning a bit closer to the falling water again, “that there might be something behind this.”

“Are you sure?”, the scientist asked – because he was certainly not.

“Looks like it, sounds like it, must be it”, the greenblood concluded. “Don’t know about you, but if I were a scientist, I’d definitely try this out!” And with those words, he took a couple of steps back before accelerating and jumping right through the waterfall.

“Arlath!”, Priley yelled after him, completely frightened. His friend was not coming back! What if something had happened to him?

The tealblood looked back to Arlath’s lusus that had sat down and did not seem to be worried at all. 

“You wait here”, Priley explained, and not waiting for the peagle’s reaction, he took a deep breath and followed the greenblood into the descending water.


	10. Chapter 10

Priley did not know what he had expected – most likely crashing against wet stone seconds after jumping into the waterfall. But that did not happen. Only moments after the sheer force of the water hit him, and his labcoat and entire body became more wet than on any rainy night the scientist had spent outside before, the pressure suddenly stopped. The scientist prepared himself for the rough impact with whatever hard ground he would end up on, but just before that could have happened, he felt the tight yet gentle grasp of someone who stumbled back just the moment they got a hold of the tealblood, overwhelmed by the energy Priley had used in his jump.

The tealblood calmed down for a moment, his heart still beating incredibly fast. He was quite surprised he had survived this stunt, or at least hat no severe injuries, and only slowly opened his eyes again. His glasses were full of waterdrops and Priley could hardly see anything.

Until the other person wiped the water off.

“See? I told you there’d be something behind all that water!”

Priley smiled when he realized Arlath was completely alright.

“Arlath!”

“That’s me, indeed.” The greenblood laughed, now letting go of the other troll. “So, want to explore this place or lie in my arms for the rest of the night?”

“...the former”, Priley replied a little bewildered, quickly walking away from Arlath and through the dark cave ahead of them. He could hear the cackle of the greenblood, but did his best to ignore it. What was the matter with him?

“Man, I wish I were a rainbow drinker”, the tealblood now heard from close behind himself. “Then it wouldn’t be so dark in here.”

Priley rolled his eyes. Did Arlath not know only jadebloods could become such mystic creatures? When the tealblood told him about this, the answer he received was just as cryptic as rainbow drinkers themselves. 

“I know.”

“Then why did you-“, Priley started, only to get interrupted by the other troll and a bright light ahead of them.

“Look, there we are!”

Normally, the scientist would now get mad at Arlath. This was the second time he avoided answering a question! But they now were probably only feet away from learning about Priley’s ancestor – arguing could wait.

While the tealblood started running around to look for anything that could possibly have something to do with his ancestor, Arlath simply sat down and watched him.

“You know, I think I know this place.”

“You do?”, Priley replied surprisedly, still searching any possible spot for clues. 

“Yeah! We’ve been flying over this place a lot, my hive is right over there”, he pointed at the very peak of a visible mountain behind the woods in the tiny valley they were in, “I didn’t think it’d be even remotely interesting though. ‘Cause, see, there’s like no visible entrance to this place. But I guess that if anyone wanted to hide for whatever reason, this’d be a great place.”

“Well, in that case, my ancestor still did not have to hide _this_ much!”, Priley groaned. He was becoming impatient. There had to be something here! Anything...

“Ouch!”, Arlath suddenly shrieked, causing the tealblood to look over to him.

“What happened?”

Arlath shrugged a bit, rubbing his backside as he stood up.

“You know, for a grassy field, that sure is some hard and edgy ground over here.”

This immediately caught Priley’s attention. “Hard and edgy?”, he repeated, running over to the other troll. He kneeled down to inspect the ground Arlath had been sitting on, and he nearly squealed when he saw metal peaking through. Grass had grown on it over the sweeps, and if it had not been for Arlath sitting down on the edgy handle, chances were high the two trolls would never have found it.

Priley now put his hands on the rusty metal handle, pulling on it with all his strength. It was quite hard and exhausting to open the trapdoor after all those sweeps, but the tealblood eventually managed to do so. He fell backwards onto the ground when it suddenly opened, causing Arlath to chuckle.

“Could you for once stop laughing at everything I do?”, Priley mumbled, standing up again. Arlath already peeked into the hole that was now next to him and shrugged without an actual reply.

The tealblood once again rolled his eyes and kneeled down next to Arlath.

“It’s no staircase or any hidden hive”, the greenblood explained. “Just a crate.”

Priley looked at him, a little puzzled.

“Just a crate? Arlath, you do not even know what is in it!”

“Then it’s time to find out”, the greenblood decided, equipping a shiny sword he then used to open the box. The sharp blade cut through the wood with ease, and Priley curiously peeked inside as soon as the crate was open. The first, and only, thing he was able to spot was a thick book. Arlath looked at it rather disappointedly.

“Is that all?”, he wondered. “A book?”

“That is not just a book, that is a journal!”, the tealblood explained, already skimming through its pages. “In fact, the journal of Skydiver Rhopilee!”, he added, proudly saying his ancestor’s name.

Arlath raised an eyebrow, now more interested. “Skydiver? Well, that at least sounds promising.” He then pointed at an apparently loose page Priley didn’t seem to have noticed yet. “Hey, what’s that?”

The scientist opened the very beginning of the book. “It seems to be a note!”

“Then read it out!” Arlath poked him. “What does it say?”

Priley glanced at the greenblood for a moment before raising his nervously shaking voice.

_“Dear descendant of mine, I congratulate you for finding my journal. I have hidden it next to my hive which I am sure will not stand anymore by the time you are reading this. This book contains the story of my life. Maybe I was not the hero you might have hoped for me to be, and yes, I surely did not change the world. But it is not important to be loved by everyone as long as there is one who does, is it? I am sure you will find this one person, as much as I am sure you, unlike me, will truly change the world. An old friend of me said so, and his words can be trusted for sure.”_

Priley suddenly paused bewilderedly. 

“What’s wrong?”, Arlath wondered. “Don’t you like what he’s writing? Sure, it sounds a little corny, but-“

“No, no, that is not it”, the tealblood ensured him. “It is what he is writing next.”

“And that’s what exactly?”

Priley looked back at the paper and continued reading.

_“This friend of mine has also wanted me to tell you about something I myself am not too sure about. It is, or so he said, a prophecy with relevance for you and the descendants of the trolls you will read about in this book. You can find it on the back of this sheet. But I do not want to spoil too much in this introduction. Enjoy the stories I am sharing with you, and maybe you can even learn from them. Signed, Skydiver Rhopilee.”_

When Priley had finished reading, Arlath did not seem to find the journal boring anymore.

“A prophecy? That must be about the game we are about to play! We’ll be causing the end of the world, after all!”

Priley nodded, his voice still shaking slightly.

“This means my ancestor knew yours!”

He skimmed through the pages again to search for evidence of this, but the greenblood grabbed the book.

“Wait, wait, wait!”, he insisted. “What about the prophecy? Isn’t that more interesting?”

The scientist thought about this for a second.

“I think we should meet the others before we take a look at it. It is concerning all of us, after all.”

Arlath sighed. “Fine.”

While the greenblood took out his phone to inform the other trolls of a meeting, Priley was already reading parts of the book out loud again.

_“This troll was more beautiful than anyone, no, anything I had ever seen in my entire life. The long hair of the jadeblood seemed to constanly flow in a gentle breeze, and believe me, from the moment I saw The Guardian, I knew I had flushed feelings for this troll with a voice as melodic as that of any songbird. But only words after we started talking, and I was completely lost in the eyes with bright green irises, I learned that this jadeblood was special. I had never even dreamed of meeting a troll like this – but this jadeblood, my dear descendant, was male.”_

Priley had read this with a smile on his face – he always enjoyed a good romantic tale – but now he was looking surprised.

“A male jadeblood!”, he exclaimed, rereading the text he could not quite believe. “Jadebloods are already rare, but the chance of a male one is like one in a million!”

Arlath barely looked up. “Consider yourself lucky then, hm?”

“What do you mean?”, the tealblood asked confusedly.

The greenblood now glanced at the other troll.

“Your ancestor said the prophecy would be about the descendants of the trolls he knew, right?”

Priley nodded, still not catching on. Arlath rolled his eyes and grabbed the sword that was still lying next to him with one hand. With the other, he slowly ran over the sharp blade of the weapon, the tealblood watching him perplexedly. 

“There”, Arlath said, showing the scientist the back of his hand that now had a long and thin wound on it. Blood spilled out of the injury – and Priley could not believe his eyes.

“You... you are...”

“A jadeblood, yeah.”

The scientist had to take another look at the other troll’s hand. Even in the little light they were having, he could clearly see how bright Arlath’s blood was.

“I can’t just run around with that though, and as an oliveblood, you don’t have as many responsibilities and expectations of others to fulfill, so I’m sticking with a darker hue.”, the troll explained. “I don’t usually tell anyone, but if I’m asked, then I’m proud to admit I’m an independent male jadeblood.”

Priley laughed a little at the sound of the last sentence, then nodded.

“I understand. And in that case, I am glad to know you, no matter your blood.”

“Thanks, Priley”, Arlath smiled before changing the topic. “So anyway, want to meet the others? I can’t be the only one getting impatient because of that prophecy, right?”

“Right”, Priley agreed, grabbing his ancestor’s journal. “Let us get back to your lusus.”

As they went back through the secret tunnel, the words of his ancestor echoed in Priley’s mind. With everything he had learned tonight already, the tealblood was finally able to admit a thought he had been forming ever since he had first met Arlath.

 _“Rhopilee”_ , he thought, smiling, _“At least regarding crushes, I can ensure you: your descendant is following in your footsteps completely.”_


	11. Chapter 11

Only minutes later, the two midbloods arrived at the decided meeting place. Gwilyn and Jayven were already there when Priley clumsily jumped off the back of Arlath’s lusus.

“Hey!”, Jayven greeted, waving at them.

While Arlath walked over to the other two trolls, Priley looked around confusedly.

“Where is Thikin?”, he wondered. “I thought he would be here before everyone else.”

Gwilyn only groaned, giving a quick nod to a tree beside him. Up there sat Thikin; he must have been there the entire time. Now, he jumped off the branch he was sitting on and landed right next to Gwilyn with much more graze than the tealblood could ever have.

“You called?”, the rustblood smirked, but Priley just gave a somewhat awkward nod. What was he even supposed to say?

“Alright, now that everyone’s here, we can finally take a look at the prophecy!”, Arlath exclaimed.

Just like Priley had expected it, Jayven seemed really interested, and Gwilyn was rather suspicious and concerned. Thikin, on the other hand, looked quite surprised.

“So this is what this meeting is all about, I see.”

“Don’t pretend you didn’t know”, Gwilyn replied. “You most likely know the entire prophecy already.”

Thikin shook his head.

“Big surprise, I don’t know everything.”

“Guys”, Arlath interrupted. “Could you please concentrate for a moment? This is important!”

Priley could tell from the look on Gwilyn’s face that he was thinking the exact opposite, but the blueblood agreed anyway. “Fine.”

The scientist now grinned and searched his pockets for the journal of his ancestor, then pulled out the loose piece of paper. The other trolls gathered around him, and with his voice shaking slightly, he started reading.

“ _No one was born to be a slave_  
 _Seek the past and place the blame_  
 _Tell me the color of the rain_  
 _No one was born to be a master_

_In the land we live, we die_  
 _Praise the oneness, praise the lie_  
 _To bind a web around the faker_  
 _We will need a true_  
 _Rainmaker_

_Trolls of Alternia, their core the same_  
 _Can live in harmony, without shame_  
 _The keys that I grant thee, The Sacred Land_  
 _Are dry desert sand on the palm of your hand_  
 _Without the water, the wisdom of past_  
 _Will run through your fingers, forgotten so fast_  
 _Thus now when I leave you, I'm truly blind_  
 _This blindness, this blessing, the hope of trollkind.“_

There was a sort of awkward silence when Priley had finished. Arlath was the first to speak up.

“What is that all supposed to mean?” He looked at the tealblood, thinking Priley must understand the text. The scientist however didn’t look less confused.

“I am sure that if we analyze it, we can figure it out.”

“Analyze?”, Gwilyn now asked. “I can at least tell you that the only blind person here is Thikin, and that is no blessing at all.”

Thikin did not reply for a moment. He seemed to be in deep thought, and only the following silence made him respond.

“I cannot say that I understand the entire prophecy, but one thing is for sure. It’s about the game we are about to play, quite obviously, and whoever spoke those words must have known what would come.”

“In other words, your ancestor”, Gwilyn concluded. “I don’t doubt that he was able to see through time as well as you.”

Thikin narrowed his eye. “He has never spoken about this prophecy in his entire lifetime, I would know.”

“It doesn’t matter who said it!”, Jayven suddenly interrupted. “Maybe we just have to wait and everything will become clear by itself!”

“Yeah, no reason to stress about this now”, Arlath agreed. “I’d love to know what all of that actually means, but I don’t think we can figure it out at the moment.”

Priley let his shoulders hang. He had hoped for discussing the text and every single word of it, but the tealblood also had to agree with the others. 

“Alright. For now, we should find the sixth player we still need, right?”

“Absolutely!”, Arlath nodded, giving a quick look at Gwilyn who already groaned again. “I’ll do that, if nobody minds.”

“Thank you”, the blueblood said gratefully before looking at Priley. “I think we still have to get to know each other, don’t we.”

The scientist raised an eyebrow, and he wasn’t the only one surprised by that statement. 

“How come you’re trying to socialize?”, Thikin asked mockingly, but also curiously.

Gwilyn glared at him. “I would rather at least somewhat know the people I will spend the rest of my life with, something I am sure you have already mastered sweeps ago.”

“Correct”, the rustblood smirked, stepping away from the tree he had been leaning on. “So, with Priley ‘getting to know’ you and Jayven – I am sure you were planning on including him as well -, I will return to my forest and see if my... acquaintance has the game ready for us.”

“Who is this acquaintance, anyway?”, Priley wondered, thereby preventing anyone else, mostly Gwilyn, from replying to Thikin’s statement.

“Just some asshole I would have killed long ago if it wasn’t for the game”, the rustblood sighed. “Trust me, you’re better off without knowing him.”

Priley looked around, unsatisfied with the answer. But much to his disappointment, the others just shrugged or didn’t respond at all. They probably did not know this person either.

“Well then”, Arlath said, changing the topic. “We better get going. I don’t want to lose any more time, we only have two nights left before the game starts.”

“Wise words, my leader”, Thikin chuckled, earning an annoyed glare from the jadeblood. He then turned away and shouted while wandering off into the forest: “Sheesh, I’m already gone.”

Arlath just sighed. “Why must he be this complicated?”

“He could be way worse”, Priley commented. “As long as he is not trying to kill us.”

Both Arlath and Gwilyn seemed strangely offended by this, and Jayven even flinched a bit. Gwilyn then broke the short silence. “As long as you do a good job as a moirail.” 

With those words, the blueblood walked away, with Jayven following right behind him. Arlath then grabbed Priley’s shoulder.

“Just don’t mention things like that in front of him, alright?”

The tealblood looked at the other troll, now starting to understand. _Something must have happened between Gwilyn and Thikin_ , he thought. _But what?_

“Are you coming, Priley?” Jayven’s voice came from quite a few feet away. He was standing next to the rather impatient seeming Gwilyn, and they were both waiting for Priley to finish his talk with Arlath.

“I think I better leave now”, the tealblood agreed, and Arlath just nodded again.

“Wish me luck!”

“I am”, Priley smiled before finally running, or better said, stumbling, over to the waiting moirals.

“There we go”, he said when he finally arrived. “What are we going to do now?”

“Go hive”, Gwilyn explained, now beginning to walk. “Arlath didn’t give us a task, so we just wait until he has finished his own or asks us to do something.”

“I can introduce you to my lusus!”, Jayven smiled, already being very eager to do exactly that.

“That sounds like a good idea!” Still, Priley was quite surprised. Jayven was a mutant, and mutants did not have lusii. He wondered what it could be and decided to ask.

“He’s a pig!”, the mutant exclaimed. “A pig with six legs and wings!”

“A pigbug”, Priley concluded. “I bet he is doing a great job.”

“The _best_ job!”, Jayven corrected. “He is the most awesome lusus on Alternia!” 

Priley chuckled. “I do not think I could say anything against that.” He then noticed that Gwilyn had not commented on any of this. Maybe he should ask him a question to include him? 

“What about your lusus, Gwilyn?”

There was no response for a moment, and the tealblood started repeating the question, only to get interrupted by Gwilyn himself.

“I have heard you just fine.”

“Then what is the matter?”

“His lusus is mean!”, Jayven suddenly said, but Gwilyn shook his head without turning around.

“He just believes in the superiority of highbloods. I don’t.”

“I am sorry to hear that”, Priley replied. “I hope your relationship is not all too bad.”

The blueblood’s next reply were only mumbled words Priley could not understand, and the scientist decided to stop talking about this topic.

He then almost fell to the ground when Jayven suddenly ran past him and Gwilyn. Priley was able to stop himself from falling and looked in the direction the mutant was running, now seeing an average-sized lowblood hive. Jayven was already at the door, calling his lusus. The tealblood could not identify a reply, and the honeyblood then entered the hive while the two higherblooded trolls followed him at normal speed. 

Then there was a scream from inside the hive.

Gwilyn’s eyes immediately widened. “Jayven!”, he called out, and Priley believed he had never heard a troll more worried before. The blueblood rushed past him and after his moirail, the scientist following right behind him. _Please let Jayven be alright_ , he prayed.

When the two trolls entered the hive, Priley had no time to look at the interior like he used to at other hives. They found Jayven in a room not too far away from the entrance, and both Gwilyn and Priley sighed in relief when they saw that Jayven was not hurt. But he was kneeling on the ground, leaning over something, and the tealblood could hear him whimpering while almost desperately crying out “Dad!” over and over.

“No...”, Gwilyn nearly whispered, getting down beside his moirail. He tried to comfort Jayven as best as he could. Priley then heard the almost completely silent oink coming from near the two other trolls, and the sudden realization took his breath away. The tealblood tried to get closer to the others to get a better view, and frowned as soon as he saw what he had just understood. Down there lied a pig not much taller than Priley’s own lusus, with six tiny legs and the wings of a bug. He did not doubt that it was as cute as Jayven had described it, but it was hard to find out now that it looked so weak.

“Aren’t you a doctor?”, Jayven suddenly asked, and Priley sadly shook his head, hating to disappoint the other troll.

“I am just a scientist, Jayven. Not a doctor.”

“But you have to help him! He’s... he’s probably just sick and you have to give him something special to eat and then he’ll be fine!”

Priley stroked the kind of rough fur of the lusus, thinking about how to help it. There must be a way. The eyes of the creature were only halfly open, its fur was rather gray than white, but the scientist did not notice the smell it should have if it was indeed sick.

Then, he suddenly realized.

“Your lusus is not sick”, he declared, gaining bewildered looks from the other two trolls. “He is just old.”

Even Jayven knew what that meant. “So you can’t help him?”

“I could be an actual doctor, but even then, I would not be able to help him.” Seeing the truly sad look on Jayven’s face, he frowned. “I am sorry.”

“Okay then”, the honeyblood said, still with sadness in his voice, but trying to stay as optimistic as possible. “Goodbye, dad. And don’t get too fat without me!” He cracked a smile at his lusus and stroked it one more time, causing it to let out an almost unhearable oink before closing its eyes once and for all.

Gwilyn had been looking down the entire time. Priley could only assume how the blueblood must feel in this situation, and he had the feeling that both of them had the exact same thought on their minds.

This was not the last death they would have to face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The so-called prophecy in this chapter is [slightly modified] from the song "The Power of One" by Sonata Arctica. It's a great song, and also in general pretty f'ing important for Thikin and his development [because yes songs are great inspirations for writing]. I don't claim it as my own, etc pp. Go check it out or something!


	12. Chapter 12

Jayven decided that he wanted to bury his lusus, and that was what the three trolls eventually did. The little mutant chose the small meadow right next to his hive, and both Gwilyn and Priley helped. Jayven was not as talkative as usual; in fact, there were hardly any words spoken in the approximate half hour the boys spent burying the pig.

When they were done, Gwilyn was the first to speak up again.

“Do you want me to stay with you for the rest of the night?” He still sounded worried, something Priley understood perfectly. Jayven meant a lot to the blueblood, and now he had lost his lusus... Gwilyn was probably the best moirail someone like Jayven could hope to have.

“That’d be great, thank you!”, Jayven smiled, almost sounding as if nothing had happened. “Do you wanna stay too, Priley?”

Should he? Thinking about it, the tealblood rather let this be a thing between the two moirails. _I might as well check up on my own one_ , he figured. _There are still a lot of things I would like to ask him._ There was something fishy about Thikin and his knowledge about the prophecy, Priley just knew that.

“No, thank you. I just remembered that I have something else to do.”

Jayven nodded, although he seemed a little disappointed. “Oh, okay! Do that then!”

Gwilyn suddenly looked like he just got an idea. “If you don’t mind, Jayven, I will go with him and show him the way.”

That was odd. Did he really want to leave Jayven alone?

“It will be only for a few minutes”, the blueblood added, as if he had guessed Priley’s confusion. 

Something in his voice made it sound like Jayven should follow them under no circumstances, and the mutant seemed to understand that.

“Alright!”, he responded as if he didn’t mind at all, although it was quite obvious that the mutant did not like the thought of being all alone, even if it was only for a short time.

“Then let’s do this as fast as possible”, Gwilyn agreed, already leaving. Priley looked at Jayven and the tiny grave he was still sitting next to one more time before following the highblood.

The tealblood waited patiently for Gwilyn to speak. It had sounded like there was something he wanted to tell Priley, but Gwilyn did not say anything as they walked. The scientist decided to start the conversation.

“You are a great moirail, Gwilyn.”

“I’m trying my best”, the other troll said without standing still.

Priley silently sighed. He had to try something else to find out what was on Gwilyn’s mind.

“How did you become moirails?” This question was guaranteed to provoke an informative answer.

Gwilyn’s reply, however, was short and sharp. 

“None of your business, is it.”

“Well, no, but-“

“Then stop asking.”

The highblood now progressed with higher speed, but Priley stopped and remained where he was.

“I will not move until you tell me.”

“Priley, that is ridiculous”, Gwilyn moaned, turning around. “And so not like you.”

“Well, you were the one planning to socialize, no? Did not happen yet.”

The blueblood sighed and gave up. “Fine. The others all know anyway, you might as well do too... being Thikin’s moirail and all.”

Priley froze. Thikin? Then he realized. _I will finally find out what happened between them!_

“Stop looking like it’s going to be a great story”, Gwilyn groaned, reminding Priley of the rather eager expression the scientist currently made.

“Because it isn’t.”

Priley quickly changed his expression to something less excited, even though he still was. He then sat down next to the highblood that had done so already. It was probably going to be a long story.

When Gwilyn made sure he had the other troll’s attention, which he had anyway, he sighed one more time. “Remember how I said that I don’t support the caste system?”

Priley nodded.

“Well, I used to.”

With Gwilyn's lusus supporting the hemospectrum, this was not something that surprised Priley too much.

“What happened?”

“I met Thikin.”

The tealblood raised an eyebrow. “But I thought you hate each other.”

“We do”, Gwilyn confirmed. “Ever since we met.”

Priley’s excited expression returned. “Stop making so much of a mystery out of this and tell me!”

The other troll looked away, at nothing in particular.

“When I was younger, and still believed in the superiority of highbloods, I was in some sort of gang that spent the nights bullying lowbloods.”

“You...” Priley started. He could not imagine Gwilyn beating up other trolls, that was just... weird.

“No”, Gwilyn interrupted, knowing what the tealblood was thinking. “I could never hurt anyone. The others bullied them, I was just the lookout in case something went wrong.”

The scientist nodded, not wanting to disturb the other troll anymore. Gwilyn looked at him thankfully and continued his story.

“But then, one night, they decided to make me join them. They wanted me to punch one of the lowbloods, and I just couldn’t decline. They were the only ones accepting my disability, at least somewhat...”

“Your disability?” Priley could not help it, he had to ask about this. Gwilyn sighed, realizing he had not told the tealblood before.

“To sum it up, my physical strength is that of a rustblood.” He made it clear that he did not want to go deeper into that and quickly progressed with the story before the tealblood could even take a breath to ask.

“Anyway, I did not have much of a choice, so I raised my fist to hurt the other troll, even though I actually felt bad for him. But just before I could have done anything, one of my... companions suddenly fell to the ground. He had been shot with an arrow, with such accuracy... even a blueblood like him was immediately dead. The shooting continued, trolls all around me were dying right before my eyes...”

Gwilyn’s voice cracked, and Priley could tell that he could still remember every moment of this incident perfectly.

“I didn’t even hesitate, I just grabbed the lowblood I had been told to hurt and ran away as fast as possible. I wanted to save him from our attackers, because, of course, it must have been at least five with the arrows all coming from different directions and all. But I wasn’t able to calm the lowblood down, he was thinking that I was responsible for the entire incident. I couldn’t convince him to stay where we were, and he ran right back to the battlefield to help his friends. I didn’t know why, but I followed him.”

The blueblood looked down and closed his eyes as he relived that eventful night.

“We were too late. Everybody was dead, not a single one of them got away. The lowblood couldn’t take it, seeing all of his friends dead... and he ran away again. I noticed that they had all been killed the exact same way – an arrow though the heart, and stabs with a blade if they hadn’t died by the shots. It had been one single troll attacking us, I realized, and I ran after the lowblood again. I didn’t know why, but I did not want him to get killed by the purpleblood - it must have been one - as well.”

Priley was already speechless, and when Gwilyn noticed this, he quickly continued after the short pause he had just made.

“I ran through the forest for what felt like hours before I found the lowblood. I was so glad that he was still alive, but I soon noticed someone hiding behind him. I knew this was the troll who killed everyone else, and he revealed himself with an arrow ready to be released. He threatened the lowblood instead of shooting him instantly. I then readied an arrow as well and stepped out of my hideout. I had never been so brave, or foolish, before... and in that moment, the attacker revealed the giant wound under his hood – and his blood color, which was nothing more than the darkest rust I had ever seen. The lowest of the low... and what did he say to me?”

Embittered, he repeated the words the other troll, _Thikin_ , had said to him.

“’I am not weak, and you are not strong’ – and then, he released the arrow he had now pointed at me.”

Priley still didn’t know what to say. The story had raised so many questions already, and with a slightly shaking voice, he then asked, not knowing if he even wanted to hear the answer:

“...what happened then?”

Gwilyn still didn’t look at the tealblood, his mind being in the night of the incident.

“I got unconscious and woke up a few hours later with the lowblood right beside me. He thanked me for saving him and apologized for some things he had said to me. He also told me that we had been saved by a jadeblood, Arlath, and his lusus, and introduced himself as Jayven.”

Now, the blueblood looked up, his eyes meeting Priley’s. He sighed again, but did not turn away this time.

“That night, I became the moirail of the only other troll that was left after Thikin’s attack. He needed me, and I needed him. I promised that I would protect him, no matter what. His innocence is a special gift on a planet like Alternia, and I am doing everything I can to keep it.”

“I understand”, Priley replied, still thinking about the other’s words. “Like I said, you are doing a great job, Gwilyn.”

“Thank you, it means a lot.”

“I know it does”, the tealblood agreed and added: “Thank you for telling me.”

“No problem”, Gwilyn mumbled, and his following words were also almost unhearable. “I actually quite look forward to playing the game.”

“You do?” Now, that was interesting. And definitely unexpected.

The blueblood nodded. “It will be dangerous, I know. And nobody but maybe Thikin knows what is going to happen. But we get to escape Alternia forever, and honestly, I am not going to miss it.”

Priley was not really convinced by this statement, so Gwilyn explained.

“They say we are worthless, that outcasts like us - a murderous rustblood, a mutant, a male jadeblood, and a weakling - shouldn’t even exist. That we have to be treated like the lowest peasants possible, if not killed in the first place. We do not deserve any better, they say. But with the game, we can and will change the world. We will show them that they were wrong.”

“And I am glad to join you on this journey, fellow Mage”, Priley smiled, understanding now. 

Gwilyn groaned, however. “Stop calling me that.”

“Why?” Priley hoped he had not offended the blueblood by calling him by his title.

The other troll looked away once again, his voice full of guilt and regret. “I am not a Mage, Priley. That wouldn’t be allowed anyway.”

“What?” Did that mean Gwilyn had lied to him? “But you said -”

“The others don’t know either”, he interrupted. “And before you ask”, the blueblood added just as Priley opened his mouth for this exact question, “I am a Knight.”

The scientist was quite frustrated now, even though he knew Gwilyn must have had a reason for what he had done.

“Why did you lie to us?”

Gwilyn hesitated. “I don’t want to be a Knight”, he eventually said. “Knights are strong and fight in close combat. They serve somebody else, somebody higher than them. But a Mage? A Mage doesn’t have to do any of that. They don’t have to be strong and can choose the weapon they fight with, or not fight at all… and they don’t serve anybody.”

Priley tilted his head as he thought about a good answer to give. Gwilyn’s words were understandable, but not exactly correct.

“Maybe you should not believe the classes are exactly like their medieval counterparts”, he started, gaining the other troll’s attention and even making him look up again. “If that was the case, I would have never become a Mage, for I do not believe in magic at all. And you should always take your aspect into account as well! I believe that Mages know and create, something not entirely medieval. And with Mind being my aspect, if I have understood Thikin correctly, I know things about the mind and create with it - which sums up perfectly what scientists do.”

“If you say so”, Gwilyn responded, not sounding very convinced. “But Void means nothing, which just proves again how useless I am going to be as a Knight, doesn’t it?”

“Quite the contrary, Gwilyn!”, Priley disagreed. Even though he hardly understood anything about classes and aspects - but with his own title, he might as well - he could not let the blueblood think like this. “Knights might usually be strong, yes, but you are a Knight of Void. You fight with Nothingness, simple as that. And if I recall correctly, Jayven and Arlath are a Heir and a Prince, titles ‘higher’ than that of a Knight. And do not tell me that you would not do anything for either of them.”

The blueblood now seemed to understand and nodded. “I surely would.”

“Indeed! Void can also mean secrets; you protect with keeping them, do you not?”

“I get your point, Priley”, Gwilyn replied. “But still, I don’t think I will tell the others anytime soon. Maybe when the time is ripe.”

“That is your decision”, the tealblood agreed. “I am glad I was able to help.”

“Yes, thank you”, Gwilyn nodded. “I think I should return to Jayven now. I don’t want to leave him alone any longer. Say, what kind of thing were you planning to do?”

Priley shrugged. “I have a few things to talk about with Thikin.”

“Do that”, the blueblood responded. “Maybe you’ll get some stuff we don’t know yet out of him.”

“I will try.” The other troll was right. Thikin was hiding something, and it was on Priley to figure it out. 

“Good. Talk to you later.”

And with those words, Gwilyn finally stood up and returned to the hive of his moirail. Priley left in the opposite direction as he waved a goodbye, heading straight to the Forest of No Souls.


	13. Chapter 13

Priley knew the way to his moirail’s place by now, and it took him only a couple of minutes to arrive at the Forest of No Souls. He was almost immediately welcomed by Crowley, though it was questionable whether the bird actually liked him or not.

“Hello, Crowley”, the tealblood greeted the bird anyway, “Would you happen to know where Thikin is?” 

“I’m right here”, a familiar voice replied without even giving Crowley the chance to do something. Priley looked up, and Thikin landed gracefully in front of him as he jumped off the branch he had been sitting on.

“How do you even do this?”, the scientist asked. He found the immense speed of his moirail rather unsettling.

“Professional secret.” The rustblood smirked. “So, what brings you here? I see that the meeting with Gwilyn and Jayven went pretty quickly.”

Reminded of the story Gwilyn had told him, Priley blurted out the question he had been meaning to keep for later. 

“Why did you do that?”

“Do what?” Thikin didn’t sound very confused, as if he knew what Priley was about to ask...

“Why did you kill all those trolls?” The tealblood grimaced a bit when the image of the many corpses popped up in his head.

“That was sweeps ago.” Thikin shrugged and didn’t change his expression at all. “Nothing worth thinking about.”

“Thikin!”, Priley yelled indignantly. 

“What?” Still no sign that the rustblood cared at all.

“Of course it is worth thinking about! You killed probably dozens of trolls!”

“Eleven”, Thikin replied without moving an inch, knowing his half-heartedness frustrated Priley. “You seem to forget, Priley...”, he shrugged again, looking away into the forest, “...that without me, Gwilyn and Jayven wouldn’t be moirails, that they would have never met Arlath – and that was not something I could’ve let happen. Sacrifices must be made for the game; then, now, and in the future.”

“Are you trying to tell me that you had known about the game all those sweeps ago?”

Thikin looked at his moirail again. “Not as much as I do today, no. But I knew who to let live.” A grin crossed his face. “That’s why I didn’t kill Unurak either.”

“Unurak?” Who was this again?

“Page of Space.”

Priley froze. “You... you know our Space player?”

The rustblood shrugged again. “Sure.”

“Then why did you not tell us?” The scientist could not believe it. Arlath was searching this very troll right now, and Thikin had known about his identity, most likely more than just his name, all along! “What if Arlath does not find him in time?”

“Don’t worry, he will”, Thikin replied, sounding like he couldn’t care less. “Unurak already knows about the game and that it starts in two nights. I’d even say he knows more about it than I do.”

Priley raised an eyebrow. Someone knowing more than Thikin... was that even possible?

“Yeah, big surprise, huh.” The rustblood sighed. “I actually don’t really like him, but that might just be me.”

The suddenly concerned look on Thikin’s face was unusual.

“Do you think he will cause problems?”, Priley asked just as concernedly.

“Maybe he will, maybe he won’t”, Thikin quickly said. “But you didn’t just go all the way to my forest for backstory details, did you? What did you come here for?”

Priley paused for a moment. He had wanted to ask Thikin about other things he alone knew, but knowledge about the sixth player was enough information for tonight, the tealblood believed. What else could he ask?

“Have you received the game already?”

“Yeah”, Thikin replied, almost glad they were changing the subject now. He pulled out an envelope the size of a CD to support this statement.

The tealblood tried to grab the envelope with the words ‘SGRUB: Server’ and a dark red hive with six segments and a roof on it, but Thikin quickly moved it out of Priley’s reach.

“I will keep that one”, he explained. “My acquaintance will deliver the other copies soon, Crowley is keeping an eye on that.” Only now did Priley notice that the bird was gone. “You and the others will get your copies tomorrow.”

“Fine”, Priley agreed, remembering something. “I just realized I do not have your chumhandle yet! We should exchange them to stay in touch during the game.”

“My what?” Thikin responded a bit confusedly. “If that’s one of your modern technical inventions, I should remind you that I live in a petrified forest with no electricity whatsoever.” He made a gesture with his hand for emphasis.

“Oh... right”, the scientist realized before changing his expression to an excited grin.

“I don’t like that look on your face”, Thikin groaned, not wanting to know what idea his moirail was having this time. But it was too late.

“I have a spare husktop at my hive!”, Priley explained, grabbing the rustblood and dragging him along before the other troll could have done anything. “I have been keeping it for scientific purposes, but I certainly would not mind you taking it! What do you say?”

“Let’s just get this done”, Thikin sighed as he followed Priley back to the tealblood’s hive. “I don’t have much of a choice anyway.”

\---

When they arrived at Priley’s hiveboat, the rustblood had taken the lead, and when Priley had caught up on his moirail, he found Thikin standing in front of the boat with his dagger in his hand. Facing him was no monster or highblood or anything dangerous, no – it was Priley’s own lusus.

“What do you think you are doing?”, the tealblood exclaimed, running over to his moirail and grabbing his arm.

“This beast is in my way.”

“This ‘beast’ is my lusus!”, Priley replied, imagining what his moirail could have done if he had not stopped him. He walked over to the platypus and petted it, causing it to make its usual content sound. “And he is not at all dangerous.”

“I never said he is.” Thikin groaned. “Can’t you at least tell him to get out of the way then?”

Priley smiled. “I am sure that he will do it if you ask him nicely.”

Thikin raised an eyebrow. “That is ridiculous.”

“It is not!” Priley kept his happy attitude and looked at his lusus. “Dad, say hello.” The platypus now raised one of its webbed feet, waiting for it to be shaken.

“It is just like when we met”, the tealblood explained to the rather doubtful Thikin. “Just shake it, he will not bite.”

Knowing that Priley wouldn’t stop with this tomfoolery until he did what the scientist wanted, Thikin sighed and kneeled down in front of the platypus.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this”, he mumbled, shaking the foot of Priley’s lusus who now let out another happy growl.

“How was it?”, the tealblood asked as soon as Thikin had let go of the lusus. 

“Could’ve been worse”, Thikin simply replied as he stood up again. Priley however smirked, knowing that his moirail just did not want to admit the truth.

“You liked it!”, he chuckled.

“Let’s just get this chumhandle thing done already, okay?” Thikin groaned, fastly walking past Priley and his lusus. The scientist followed him after petting the platypus one more time.

Minutes later, the two trolls were sitting in front of a teal husktop with the Trollian program opened. Thikin was just staring at it while Priley had logged himself in with his other husktop. 

“You need a username to identify with on Trollian”, Priley explained. “Just type it in here.”

Thikin still stared at the screen without moving.

“What is the matter?”, Priley asked confusedly. “Have you got a problem with coming up with a name?”

“I can’t read”, Thikin just said.

“What?” Was he getting that right?

“I can’t read”, the rustblood repeated. “Or write, for that matter.”

“But...” Priley still could not believe that.

“Did you seriously expect me to be able to do that after spending my entire life in a lost forest where I was the only living soul apart from my unearthly lusus?”

“Well, I...”, Priley started, then decided he did not want to go into that again.

“I could teach you!”, he suddenly grinned. “It’s really easy! You just have a bunch of letters and depending on how you arrange them, they mean different things.”

“I know that”, Thikin commented, the sound of his words not telling if he was lying or not. “I’m not stupid.”

“I know you are not”, the tealblood laughed. But Thikin still wasn’t convinced.

“Can we get this done until the start of the game?”

“That fully depends on you. But we should, since, like you said, you are not stupid.”

“Well then”, Thikin agreed. “Where do we start?”

Priley cogitated for a moment. “I would suggest that I first show you how to pronounce the different letters.” He stood up and walked to a bookshelf, searching for one specific book. He had not used it for sweeps, but it was just the right thing for Thikin. As he sat back down next to the suspicious rustblood, he opened the book on the first page. On it was an image of a creature, with one big letter next to it and a smaller word below. 

“So, Thikin, what do you see?”

“An ant.” _At least he knows the names of Alternia’s beasts_ , Priley thought.

“Right”, the scientist nodded, pointing at the big letter. “A as in Ant.”

“Let me guess, A-N-T”, Thikin concluded, and when Priley nodded again, he added: “That was easy.”

The tealblood smiled, really enjoying this. “Glad to see you are not all that dumb.” Before Thikin had a chance to reply, he quickly continued with the next page that was featuring the letter B.

\---

The two trolls spent probably hours with the book. As soon as they had made sure that Thikin had memorized all twenty-six letters in both their uppercase and lowercase forms, Priley decided that it was finally time for his moirail to create an account on Trollian.

“Have you thought about your trolltag yet?”

Thikin nodded and stared at the keyboard for a moment before typing something with a speed that made it hard to believe he had only started learning to read hours ago. Priley could not help but wonder if his visions showed him what key to press, although that was quite unlikely.

“ulteriorDemise”, the tealblood read out, gulping. 

“That’s what you wanted me to do, isn’t it?”, Thikin asked, clearly amused by the look on Priley’s face. “So, what now?”

“Well, you can try to text me now”, Priley replied, helping the rustblood add his own trolltag to the contact list. He had no doubt that Thikin would have managed to do this by himself, but the tealblood had to admit that his own trolltag was difficult to spell.

The scientist sat down in front of his husktop, and only seconds later, a message popped up.

\-- ulteriorDemise [UD] began trolling existentialisticScientist [ES] \--

UD: There. Proud now?

Priley grinned and replied immediately.

ES: [Definitely.]

He then noticed something about his moirail’s text.

ES: [You need + a quirk!]

UD: A what?

ES: [Something to - personalize your x text. Like my brackets and signs.]

He saw Thikin nodding now, glad the other troll did not complain.

UD: oI-- Like This?

ES: [Is that + your symbol?]

UD: oI-- Yeah. 

ES: [That is a – good idea.]

UD: oI-- Of course iT is.

The two trolls continued chatting for another couple of minutes until Priley noticed how late it already was. After asking Thikin if he wanted to stay for the day, the rustblood suddenly logged out of Trollian and closed the husktop.

“I prefer my forest, thank you.” 

Thinking his moirail would leave now, Priley quickly interrupted him.

“Wait!” He grabbed a note pad and a ballpoint pen and handed them to Thikin. “You can try to improve your handwriting!”, he explained, grinning.

“Whatever you say, Priley”, the other troll shrugged, his voice almost unnoticeably showing that he was suddenly far away with his thoughts. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

And with the husktop, note pad and pen in hand, the rustblood was gone before Priley could have said a word.


	14. Chapter 14

The next evening, it was rather easy for Priley to leave his recooperacoon and get dressed. His mind had been full of thoughts about Thikin and, what was his name, Unurak?, ever since the rustblood had left yesterday. Tonight, Priley knew, was the night he would meet the Space player, and at the same time find out a lot of new things – that is, if Thikin had been telling the truth about the sixth troll’s knowledge.

Unurak... Priley had thought about this troll all night. Who was he? What powers did he possess to know more than even Thikin with his mysterious visions? And what caste did he belong to? The tealblood hoped he was not a hemoloyal highblood, that was the last thing their team needed. But if Thikin did not like him... then again, the rustblood hardly liked anyone.

Because of all those thoughts, the scientist had hardly slept that night – and only now did he notice the consequences: he had woken up quite a lot later than usual, and when he started his husktop, a message from an hour ago popped up. 

When Priley started reading it, his heart sank a little. He had hoped for a message from Arlath – but instead, the person contacting him was Thikin.

\-- ulteriorDemise [UD] began trolling existentialisticScientist [ES] \--

UD: oI-- Hello, Priley.  
UD: oI-- GeT To The usual meeTing place as fasT as possible. We will be waiTing.

\-- ulteriorDemise [UD] ceased trolling existentialisticScientist [ES] \--

\-- ulteriorDemise [UD] is now offline. --

_Just great_ , Priley thought, slightly panicking. _They are all waiting for me now._

Without shutting down his husktop – a thing he always did for energy-saving purposes –, the tealblood left his hive and stormed into the forest. _What an amazing first impression I am making._ He ran as fast as he could, his labcoat getting quite dirty from the contact with bushes and branches. _And by the time I get there, I will be looking like an idiot._

But by the time he got there, only three other trolls were present.

“I told you Priley would be here first”, the first one, Thikin, grinned.

“And I told you it doesn’t count because you have visions of the future.” Gwilyn was in his usual not too positive mood.

“They don’t work like that”, the rustblood replied relaxedly before turning to Priley, slightly chuckling at his now rather messy clothes. “You didn’t have to rush, you aren’t the last one to appear.”

Priley sighed. “I noticed.” He also knew that appearing this late was highly unusual for Arlath. “Where is-“

“Right here!” The jadeblood walked out of the woods quite casually, much less dirty than Priley. “Sorry for being so late, by the way. Just thought I’d adjust to my company, he’s rather slow.”

“Oh, shut up.” This new voice – tired, annoyed, and far away from happy – belonged to a troll now appearing behind Arlath. He, of course, gained looks from everyone present, giving Priley time to muster him. 

The new troll was a brownblood, so his for his caste commonly simple clothes consisted of nothing more than shoes, pants, and a turtleneck. His messy hair looked as if he had never brushed it before, and he looked as tired and annoyed as he sounded.

 _This is our Space player_ , Priley thought, not quite believing it. He sure was better than an insane subjugglator, but –

“Unurak!”

Jayven’s voice was loud and full of excitement, much like last night when they had walked to his hive. With Gwilyn trying to stop him, he ran past Priley and hugged the brownblood who seemed as surprised as about everyone else. “I thought I’d never see you again!”, the mutant exclaimed.

Priley looked at the blueblood, hoping for an explanation, but Gwilyn only shrugged slightly, not seeming to know the brownblood at all.

“Showed up late back then”, Unurak now said, shooting a glare at Thikin while only half-heartedly hugging Jayven back. “Good to see you too.”

Priley, as well as Gwilyn, he assumed, immediately realized how Jayven must know Unurak. _They had been friends before he met Gwilyn and then never saw each other again._

“I can’t believe you are our Space player!”, Jayven continued.

“Me neither.” Thikin groaned. He clearly wasn’t happy about this at all.

“You know this has to happen”, Unurak stated.

“Doesn’t mean I like it.”

Arlath sighed. “Guys, stop arguing! I’m not gonna auspisticize between everyone.” Glad to see both of them were shutting up, he continued. “Before we’re starting to discuss the game and stuff, does anyone have any questions?”

“Yes”, Priley spoke up, seeing his chance. “Unurak, Thikin said you might know more about the game than he does. I doubt you have the same powers, so how would you know so much?”

Gwilyn raised an eyebrow at this, interested. Unurak replied almost as casual as Thikin always did. 

“Derse.”

Nobody seemed to like this answer too much, even Jayven flinched a little. Nobody but Priley, who had no idea what Unurak was talking about.

“Derse?” 

“Haven’t you woken up yet?”, Jayven asked.

“What do you mean?” Now the tealblood was even more confused.

“You’re on Prospit anyway.” Unurak didn’t sound as if he cared about anything. But still, Priley wished they would just give him clear explanations.

Which is what Gwilyn then did.

“Everyone playing the game has some kind of dream self that wakes up when they sleep – and the planets they are on are Prospit and Derse.”

“Basically”, Unurak agreed, even though his voice suggested that there was much more to know about the two planets. He did not want to explain, however, and Priley was not too eager to ask him at the moment. But there was one question he wanted an answer to.

“When am I going to wake up?”

“Don’t know”, the brownblood replied. Trying to comfort the now slightly disappointed Priley, Jayven smiled up at him. 

“I’m sure you will soon!” 

And Arlath added: “Some just do it earlier than others, there isn’t really a fixed point in time or anything like that.”

Priley nodded, figuring he would ask Thikin about this again later. _So much to ask him…_

“Anyway”, Arlath began, looking at Thikin. “Did you bring the copies?”

The rustblood nodded and held out his hands, only for a couple of envelopes to suddenly appear. Priley could tell this was his lusus’ doing, and the other trolls seemed to know this too. Something was wrong with that bird; those powers were simply not natural.

“There you go”, Thikin commented, passing the copies around; two for everyone, a server disc and a client one. Which caused Priley to ask yet another question: “Is the acquaintance you got the game from not going to play it?”

“Isn’t meant to”, Unurak explained shortly. 

“Which doesn’t mean he won’t be trying.” Thikin sounded rather positive about that, making Gwilyn’s expression become even more concerned than it already had been since they had talked about Derse.

“How many copies exactly does Zelusc still have?”, the blueblood asked, his worry clearly showing.

“Six”, Thikin said, keeping the discontent sound in his voice. “One for every missing aspect.”

“As long as he’s not interfering with us, nothing can go wrong, right?” Gwilyn’s voice already sounded like he didn’t believe in what he had just said. Unurak’s answer, however, was rather vague.

“We don’t need them to make things go wrong.” He groaned. “But you’re right. I don’t need to see Himero ever again.”

“Or Kikori”, Thikin added. “But they will be playing, I’ve seen them.”

Jayven’s face suddenly lit up and he looked hopefully at his moirail. “Can I go see Nivali? I need to ask him if he’s going to play too!”

Gwilyn did not seem too content to let him go, but Priley saw his chance. _So many names_ , he thought, quite overwhelmed. They might not be important at all, but tonight was most likely the last opportunity to find out about them.

“I can accompany him!”, the scientist exclaimed. 

Jayven smiled even more and was almost begging Gwilyn now. “Can we go?”

The blueblood sighed. “Fine. But don’t be gone for too long.”

“Awesome!”, Jayven cheered, giving his moirail a quick hug. “We’ll be back soon!”

“I hope so”, Gwilyn nodded and looked at Priley. “Keep an eye on him.”

“We will be fine”, the tealblood replied confidently, noticing Thikin snorting a little at what Gwilyn had just said. “And you will do me the same favor.” Priley looked around once more. “You can at least try to get used to being a team!” 

“Whatever you say, Priley”, Gwilyn groaned, not too excited. “And now go already, Jayven is getting impatient.”

He was right; the mutant was already pulling Priley’s labcoat. “Come on”, he exclaimed. The tealblood chuckled a little, nodded a goodbye to his friends and followed the smaller troll.

“Jayven, who is Nivali?”

“My best friend!” Jayven sounded really happy again and announced after a short pause: “But we aren’t going to meet him!”

Priley stopped in his tracks. He understood what Jayven was getting at – and it was something he had not expected from the honeyblooded troll.

“You... you lied to Gwilyn?”

Jayven stood still as well, turning around and frowning slightly. “I didn’t want to! But he isn’t allowed to know about this and nobody else is either!”

“What about me?” Should he feel special now? Surely. But what was going on, and what was Jayven hiding?

“You don’t mind!”, Jayven responded. “And I know you won’t tell anyone.”

Priley hesitated. “Depends.” He did not want to make too quick decisions.

“Promise!”, the other troll insisted. “I don’t want Gwilyn to get mad at me!”

 _He wouldn’t_ , Priley thought. But it was the last night they would spend on Alternia; doing Jayven this favor surely couldn’t have too many consequences.

“Alright”, the scientist nodded. “I promise.”

“Great!” Jayven grinned and continued walking, with Priley following right behind him. 

After a couple of minutes, the vegetation of the woods around them changed and the two trolls entered some kind of jungle. With its odd plants, it reminded Priley a little bit of those he had found in Thikin’s forest, but, of course, they were alive this time. Everything around them was; he could hear dozens of different sounds from a variety of creatures. Jayven confidently made his way through this jungle, seeming to know exactly where to go. Priley began to realize that Gwilyn would have never let his moirail enter this place – he himself was not too sure if he would have done it without Jayven.

When the honeyblood finally stopped, there was absolutely nothing special to see. To Priley’s question about why they were pausing, Jayven pointed upwards while keeping his usual grin. Slightly confused, the tealblood looked up, only to see an enormous treehouse complex above them.

Jayven then grabbed some kind of rope and pulled it, but instead of activating a platform or elevator like Priley had expected, it caused a troll to come down from the hive.

This troll was wearing a black coat and lime green boots, though the color of his symbol was a much darker green. His hair was quite messy, but not as much as Unurak’s – if anyone could top that at all. His most interesting, and at the same time, creepy, feature was that half of his face had been replaced by robotics. 

“Hey there”, the greenblood said with a rather big lisp. He took his time to muster Priley, his robotic eye constantly zooming in and out, giving the tealblood quite an unsettling feeling. When he was done, the troll looked at Jayven and smirked before continuing with the same hissing sounds he had already incorporated before:

“Looks like my matesprit found a new friend.”


	15. Chapter 15

„His name is Priley!“

The tealblood hardly paid attention to Jayven’s words. This... cyborg was his matesprit? Priley had not believed the mutant had filled any quadrant other than the pale one, and especially not with someone like the strange troll in front of him.

“Nice meeting you, I’m Ceysel!” The greenblood held out his hand. It took the still surprised Priley a moment to realize this was dedicated to him, but when he finally reached out to grab Ceysel’s hand, the other troll pulled it away.

“Too late!” The greenblood giggled, almost sounding like a mad scientist now – Priley knew those all too well from watching so many more or less scientific movies.

Priley snorted a bit as well now. This troll was quite weird, yes, but Jayven really seemed to like him, and that was all that mattered, right?

“You can show him, Ceysel!”, Jayven suddenly exclaimed. “I don’t want you to get unconscious again!” He frowned a little at that.

“Unconscious?”, Priley repeated, confused.

But Ceysel remained calm. “It’s nothing.”

Then the color of his symbol changed to a lime green color, and Priley almost lost consciousness himself.

“Impossible!”, he managed to say, rubbing his glasses to make sure he didn’t get anything wrong. Limebloods were extinct! But this color was clearly lime... and did he just _change_ the color of his blood? No, it was just the coat... right?

“Yeah, it’s my blood too”, Ceysel replied as if he had read the other’s mind. And as if this statement had not been enough, he now used one of his nails to scratch the skin of his hand, causing blood to appear – lime green blood.

And on top of that, it suddenly changed color. Ceysel seemed to go through the entire hemospectrum before letting it return to its original color, leaving Priley speechless.

“How... how do you do that?”

“Lime powers”, Ceysel simply explained. “Drains on my energy though, so I better don’t do it for too long.”

Jayven seemed quite bored by this conversation, so he changed the topic.

“Priley will be playing the game with us and we have a Space player as well!”

“That’s great!”, Ceysel replied, his expression then changing to a rather annoyed look. “Way better lineup than ours, at least.”

“So you _are_ playing!” Jayven grinned. “We can be together all the time, I’m sure we can convince Gwilyn, and we-“

“We won’t be playing together”, Ceysel frowned a bit. “I’m not one of those ‘chosen guys’, remember?” He glanced at Priley with his telescopic robot eye, not having to turn his head while still looking at his matesprit. “We’ll end up in different sessions, and I’ll be stuck with you know which assholes without seeing you ever again, probably.”

“ _Ever_ again?” Jayven clinged to Ceysel, leaving Priley in a pretty awkward position.

“But I already lost my dad last night, I can’t lose you too!”

“Your lusus is dead?” Ceysel looked upset now, at least as much as one can manage being partly a robot. “Sorry to hear that, but... you know I wish we could stay.”

 _Why do I always end up in the heartbreaking scenes_ , Priley wondered, sighing. And why Jayven? If there only was a way to...

“Stay positive, Jayven! Maybe you will not see your matesprit again, but at least he can escape certain death by playing SGRUB.”

Ceysel nodded. “Priley’s right. And you know I’ll do my best, and I’m absolutely sure we’ll meet again!”

“I hope so!” Jayven smiled widely. “Can you say hi to Nivali from me? Gwilyn said I have to be back as soon as possible!”

“Sure thing.” Ceysel pulled his matesprit closer for a hug, running his hand through the mutant’s curls, causing the honeyblood to giggle. “See you soon!”

“Okay!” Jayven let go after a couple of seconds, returning to Priley who had just been watching them until now. “Let’s go back!”

“Alright”, the tealblood agreed, looking at Ceysel once more. He could understand why Jayven had never told Gwilyn about him – that he was a limeblood, probably the last one alive, was already weird enough, but the ability to change his blood’s color was even crazier. In Gwilyn’s position, Priley would most likely not let Jayven meet this potentially dangerous troll either... but that was over now anyway. Unlike the honeyblood, Priley was fairly certain this would be their last meeting, and Ceysel’s eye...s told him the limeblood thought so as well.

“Goodbye, Ceysel. It was nice to meet you!”

“Surely was!”, the other troll nodded, managing to sound absolutely positive again. “Good luck with the game.”

 _Good luck to you too_ , Priley silently replied as Jayven led him out of the jungle again. _You are going to need it._

On their way back to the glade, it seemed like Jayven would never stop talking. He went on and on about Ceysel and even a bit about the other trolls Priley had never met and most likely wasn’t going to. And even though the tealblood did not pay much attention to Jayven’s words most of the time, he learned a couple of things. According to the mutant, Ceysel was the Heir of Blood - a truly fitting title, Priley thought-, and his lusus was some sort of winged chameleon. He had lost the right side of his face because a purpleblood that would play the game with him got mad at him, and Priley was glad he wasn’t going to meet this troll.

When the two trolls arrived at the glade a few minutes later, the others were still there. Gwilyn was talking to Arlath, and surprisingly enough, Thikin spoke with Unurak. While Jayven immediately walked over to his moirail, Priley decided to do the same and figure out what Thikin was speaking about.

“It doesn’t matter if I do or not”, the rustblood currently said.

“Do what?” Priley instantly raised his voice to catch on.

“Wake up on Derse”, Unurak replied before Thikin could have stopped him - the rustblood’s glare was more intense than any Priley had seen before.

“You have not woken up yet?” Priley couldn’t believe it. Thikin claimed to know so much, and he surely did… and if Unurak had all his knowledge from Derse, and Thikin had never been there before - he was going to be omniscient if he ever woke up!

“It’s no big deal”, Thikin groaned. “And besides, I _did_ wake up on Derse once.”

“Because a Dersite stabbed you.”

“I almost fell down the tree because of that asshole”, Thikin nodded, not fond of those memories. “It was in the middle of the night.”

“The guardian woke your real self up again. And made sure you wouldn’t wake up on Derse anymore.”

The guardian? Who did Unurak mean by that?

“Crowley?”, Priley asked curiously. That was the only creature he could think of that would fit this situation.

“If that’s what you call him”, Unurak shrugged, the glance he shot Thikin not escaping Priley’s eyes. “I have to leave now. Derse is waiting.” He nodded at Thikin once more before turning around to leave. “The Predatory Trooper is waiting for you to wake up again.”

And with those words, he left.

“Thikin, what was he talking about?” Priley was still quite puzzled. 

The rustblood snarled. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Thikin!”

“Priley, look, it’s nothing, okay?”

“Nothing?” This was getting ridiculous. “Thikin, you have not woken up on Derse, unlike everyone else! Do not tell me that this is unimportant.”

“I _did_ wake up once”, Thikin repeated. “Not my fault Crowley has basically banned me from doing it again.”

“How does that even work?” The rustblood was getting more confusing with every word. “And why did Unurak speak so weirdly about Crowley?”

“Don’t ask me.” Thikin shrugged. “It’s not much of a secret that he isn’t just a normal crow lusus, though I wouldn’t exactly pay much attention to Unurak’s words. Derse has been filling his mind with bullshit.”

As usual, Priley was not going to get a clear answer from his moirail, so he chose to ask him the next question on his mind. But he better phrased it carefully…

“Limebloods are extinct, no?”

Thikin snorted. “Don’t you think I’d know if they weren’t?” Now shooting a glance at Jayven, the rustblood made it clear that he was well aware of the other troll’s flushed quadrant. This made the next question a lot easier to ask.

“Jayven said he is the Heir of Blood, and the other trolls of Ceysel’s session have other classes and aspects as well. Why are they not destined to play it if their aspects do not double with ours?”

“That’s not the point of the game at all”, Thikin replied, and Priley could tell there was more to come. But his moirail seemed to suddenly change his mind. “And anyway, there’s a time for everything. And it’s not now.”

Priley sighed. “If you say so.” At least he would get to hear Thikin’s explanation one day… “Anyway - thank you for not telling Gwilyn about, you know…”

“Sure thing”, Thikin shrugged. “Anything to keep the team together.”

“Glad to hear that matters to you.”

Gwilyn suddenly showed up, leaving Jayven still talking to Arlath.

“Well, Gwilyn, I would like to win the game, and we need a team to begin with.” Thikin did not seem all too happy to see Gwilyn, as usual. Priley only hoped they would not get into an argument again, but it turned out Gwilyn was intending something else.

“Priley, I need to talk to you”, he declared. “And I thought we could combine that with visiting my hive - this is the last chance you are going to get.”

“Of course”, the tealblood nodded. Gwilyn seemed to be the only one willing to give useful information - what was he going to tell Priley this time?

“Have fun”, Thikin added, more ironically than anything else, resting his eyes on Gwilyn for a moment. “We’ll talk later.”

“Whatever”, the blueblood moaned, already turning away. “Let’s go.”

Mouthing a quick goodbye to Thikin, Priley followed him.

“What did you want to tell me?”

“You wanted to know more about Prospit and Derse, didn’t you?”

Finally! Useful information. One could always rely on Gwilyn when it came to that.

“Yes! Please tell me what you know about them.” It must be something important, considering how urgent he had sounded before.

“Well”, Gwilyn began, “It really is not as much as Unurak knows, but I might actually be able to give you more information than Thikin.” 

This made Priley even more curious.

“As you know, there are two planets, Prospit and Derse. I’m on Derse with Unurak and Thikin, leaving you, Jayven and Arlath on Prospit.” Noticing the tealblood opening his mouth to ask a question, Gwilyn added: “Don’t ask me what determines where you end up, I have no idea.”

Priley shut his mouth again, allowing the other troll to continue.

“As far as I know, Prospit and Derse aren’t that different, minus the beings living on them. Prospit is the Light Kingdom, Derse the Dark Kingdom, and they’re inhabited by white and black carapacians, respectively.”

“Like chess pieces?” Priley did his best to follow Gwilyn’s words.

Gwilyn confirmed this. “Yeah. There’s a King and a Queen as well, and from what the carapacians have told me, there’s a war going on.”

“Do we have to participate in that war?” Did they actually have to play against each other, and not all together?

“I don’t think so”, Gwilyn said as they finally reached a cabin in the middle of the forest - made out of wood, and something Priley would have linked to a greenblood at best. Gwilyn, being far higher than that, walked over to the door to unlock it, not even seeming to care about his hive being rather rural. “I believe the point of playing SGRUB is helping Prospit to win, however. It’s always like that in games, helping the good side.”

“Sounds logical”, Priley agreed, following the blueblood inside. The outside of the hive had not been a simple facade to hide a proper highblood interior though - everything inside was quite simple, not much more special than Jayven’s hive had been.

“I moved out of the city when I became Jayven’s moirail”, Gwilyn explained. “Just couldn’t endure all those highbloods anymore, they had never been nice to me anyway.”

“I see”, the tealblood replied while examining a shelf full of wooden beast statues. “Did you make them? They look amazing!”

“Thank you”, Gwilyn commented, leaving into another room.

“Where are you going?” 

“Feeding my lusus, he will be back any minute now.”

Priley remembered the other troll having a rather bad relationship with his lusus and decided to follow him in case something bad happened.

The door they went through led to a stable, and Priley had to admit this was the most highblood-like room he had seen in the hive so far. It seemed like Gwilyn had put everything resembling wealth, weapons - especially his bow and arrows - or other highblood-typical things in here; his lusus was still hemoloyal, after all.

Gwilyn finished filling a hay rack, and just in time. A creature walked through a gate in the wall, a creature truly noble enough to be a highblood’s lusus. It seemed to be a mix of a stag and a boar, and with its majestic antlered head lifted high, and not even deigning to look at Gwilyn at all, it walked over to the rack and started eating. It did not seem to care about Priley either, and the troll was not planning to introduce himself. He felt sorry for Gwilyn having such an aloof lusus, but there was not anything he could do to change that.

Watching the proud creature, Priley hardly noticed Gwilyn had walked behind his lusus, and the boar-stag had not seen him either, or it at least did not care. If the tealblood had paid more attention, he would have spotted that both the bow and arrows weren’t in their place anymore.

He only noticed when the sound of a flying arrow filled the air, as well as the agitated bleating of the once so majestic hoofbeast.


	16. Chapter 16

Priley just stood there, his eyes wide open, completely speechless. He couldn’t take his eyes off the beast’s corpse. Was this real? Had Gwilyn really just... shot his own lusus?

The blueblood sighed deeply, stepping over to the creature to retrieve the now bloodstained arrow.

“I’m sorry”, he said, and only when Priley decided to look at his friend – who was staring at the lowerblooded troll himself -, the scientist realized those words had been dedicated to him.

With a dry throat, Priley managed to raise his voice, still overwhelmed by the unexpected incident.

“...why?” Why would anyone, no matter what caste, ever do such a thing to their own lusus?

Gwilyn remained silent for a moment, then spoke up, no emotion at all in his voice.

“I couldn’t take his hatred anymore.”

He then put his weapon back in the corner he had taken it from.

“And ending it myself is better than letting the apocalypse do it.”

“But –“

“No, no _but_!”, Gwilyn almost snarled, sounding more and more frustrated. “I don’t care about the fact that he was my lusus, he never did a good job at that.”

Priley sighed, nodding. He had no right to tell Gwilyn how utterly wrong this was, he didn’t know anything about their actual relationship.

“I am sorry it had to end like this, still.”

“Whatever.” It became clear that Gwilyn wasn’t keen on continuing the conversation like this – or at all. “Why don’t you visit your moirail or something? He’s probably back in his forest already, and it’s not that long of a walk, just out the door and straight ahead.”

“Sure.” Priley did not bother hiding his disappointment. This meeting had not been as great as the tealblood had thought, not at all. “What are you going to do?”

Gwilyn shrugged. “Nothing in particular, just... leave me alone for a bit, okay?”

Priley just nooded again. “See you in the apocalypse then, I suppose?”

“Exactly.” Gwilyn was certainly not looking forward to that. “Arlath said he wanted to host some memo on Trollian tonight, however. Don’t miss it.”

“Of course not!” Priley immediately made a mental note to remember the memo, it surely was going to be important. “See you later, Gwilyn.”

“Goodbye, Priley.”

The tealblood then did what Gwilyn had told him: walk out the hive and straight ahead. It did not take long until he spotted a familiar troll – Thikin walked only a few feet ahead of him, as silently as usual. It almost seemed like he was sneaking... might as well greet him already.

“Hello, Thikin!”

The other troll flinched, and an alarmed small hoofbeast jumped through the bushes, disappearing into the forest. 

“Damn it, Priley”, Thikin groaned, turning to his moirail. “I was trying to get myself some food.”

“...sorry.” Priley blushed a bit. “But should your visions not have told you this was going to happen?”

“How often do I have to tell you”, the rustblood sighed, “that my powers don’t work like that?”

“You would not have to listen to such questions if you just told me how your powers actually work!”

Thikin hissed, making his moirail flinch a little.

“Nobody knows how they work but me, and I prefer it to stay that way.”

“And yet you complain about misinterpretations.”

“Why do you even have to know every little thing? Can’t you just live with a vague answer for once?”

Why was Thikin suddenly getting this aggressive?

“Look, if it has to do with your ancestor –“

“It doesn’t, okay? And neither has this stupid prophecy, for that matter.”

“It is not stupid!”, Priley countered, now also a bit frustrated. “But... do you really not know anything at all about the prophecy?”

“Not a single thing, no.”

“But you know what it could mean, right?”

Thikin shook his head. 

“No, and I’m not going to waste any time thinking about it. That’s not my job.”

Priley sighed. 

“It is mine because I am the Mage and we received it from my ancestor, I know, I know.” Then, he grinned. “As a Mage, does that not mean I should be informed about how your powers are working?”

The rustblood rolled his one eye.

“Your logic is rather questionable, Priley.”

The scientist frowned. Why was it so hard to get answers out of his moirail?

“But since I’m only not telling others because of combat advantage, and you’re neither an enemy nor a fighter, I shall ignore that this once.”

A smile spread across the tealblood’s face. This was maybe one of the biggest secrets to be uncovered, and now he would get the chance!

“Also, you’ll stop looking at me like that.”

“...sorry.” _Mental note: pay attention to facial expressions._

“Anyway.” Thikin sat down on an overthrown tree, gesturing Priley to do so as well. “As you know, Crowley is responsible for making me able to get those visions in the first place.”

“By partly blinding you, I know.” Priley nodded. This thought still made him quite uncomfortable.

“Yeah. Basically, I see everything normally on my healthy eye, and on the other, I see nothing but visions.”

“All the time?” Priley could only imagine how confusing this must be.

“Pff, no. I only get to see the future in life-changing situations, like actually deadly attacks or other things that could get me killed.”

“Or others”, Priley added, remembering the night Thikin had saved his life.

“Only important people”, Thikin explained. “For allowing SGRUB to at least properly start.”

“Yes, what about visions involving the game? Those do not show immediate events.”

Thikin shrugged.

“I... actually don’t know. I can’t trigger those visions, they just show up from time to time without any context.”

“Hm.” There was nothing Priley could say about that. “And the past visions?”

“I can get them about anyone, provided I have some blood.”

“Blood?”

“Genetic information or whatever, how should I know.” Clearly, Thikin did not care about the scientific part... but maybe, if there was time, Priley would at least try to examine this some more in the future. “And when I have blood, I can basically scroll through the person’s entire past, as well as that of their ancestor. Those visions are pretty vivid, too.”

“That... that is amazing!”, Priley gasped. There were so many possibilities to use those powers – and so much to find out about his own ancestor!

Thikin rolled his eye, sounding stern, even.

“Don’t even ask, because no. I won’t use my powers to find out stuff about your ancestor.”

The tealblood pouted. “Why not?”

“Because it might as well be all explained in his journal.”

Priley blinked, remembering he had not even actually read it at all, with the exception of a few pages.

“You are right! And with all the time I still have left tonight, I could spend it on doing research.”

The other troll did not seem to care. “Do that. And don’t bother telling me about the result, okay? I’ve got things to prepare for.”

“The game, of course...” Priley was still a little confused. What could Thikin possibly have to prepare for? He had Priley’s old husktop, as well as the two discs, and the rustblood definitely did not need fighting practice. But Priley decided he would learn about this soon enough, or leave Thikin this much privacy otherwise. “Well then, I will see you in the apocalypse.”

“And I’ll see you”, Thikin smirked, not getting tired of his puns. “Later.”

\---

Priley started his husktop, logged in to Trollian for the memo Gwilyn had said would be tonight, had his curious as usual lusus sit down next to him, and opened his ancestor’s journal.

The tealblood soon found himself skipping quite a lot of pages – stories of Rhopilee’s earlier life even the adult troll called unimportant. When Priley came across the remainders of about five pages that had been ripped out of the journal, he knew he had finally come to the interesting part. The scientist searched for hints of the lost pages’ contents, and he indeed found something on the very next one.

_I apologize for tearing out the previous pages, but only after writing them did I remember that the troll they were about explicitly stated he did not want to appear in this book, neither his name or even his blood color. But maybe you, my descendant, can already assume his identity by those of your friends and acquaintances, I do not know._

That was odd. But if this troll had been so important, or had so much to hide, that whole pages had to be removed, he must be the ancestor of one of Priley’s closer friends. Rhopilee had stated before that the prophecy was about the descendants of the trolls in his book, and this mysterious one surely was part of them.

“There is only one way to find out!”, Priley exclaimed, starting to skim through the book’s later pages. By using the process of elimination, the tealblood only had to find the names of four of his friends’ ancestors, or three, knowing Arlath’s already, and then he would know the identity of the last one.

The Loiterer was the next troll Priley, and Rhopilee, encountered. He was a brownblood, already rather old at this point of the journal, and apparently a sage... fitting for Unurak, definitely. Three more ancestors to go, and they all seemed to match the mysterious troll so far – Jayven’s because of being a mutant, Gwilyn’s because of the Void aspect, and Thikin’s because... well, it was Thikin’s.

As Priley continued reading, he found out a lot about his ancestor’s life. After saving the Loiterer from getting killed by highbloods, Rhopilee had decided to found a sanctuary for the crippled and oppressed, then living there with the Guardian, his matesprit, and a lot of lowbloods they had saved as well. The Barterer, as kindhearted as his descendant Jayven, had occassionally joined them while actually working for a purpleblood with a cockatrice for a lusus.

Priley gulped a little when realizing this must have been the troll to petrify Thikin’s forest, and he made a quite surprised noise when reading about a blueblood that too was under the command of this highblood; a blueblood by the name of Esbirron Trucidat. It quickly became clear to Priley that the Soulless was the only ancestor left, the only troll those lost pages could possibly have been about.

Priley’s thoughts were racing now, remembering what the others had said about the rustblooded murderer.

“Slaughterer of hundreds of oppressing, hemoloyal, highblooded idiots”, Thikin had told him. “Everything I know, I know it from him.”

But if that was indeed true, and Thikin really knew everything about his ancestor – then why had he never mentioned anything about Rhopilee?

“Wait a second!”, Priley gasped in realization, hastily grabbing the note with the prophecy, and causing his lusus to curiously look up from the little nap it had taken.

“ _Thus now when I leave you, I’m truly blind  
This blindness, this blessing, the hope of trollkind_ ”, the tealblood repeated, now walking around in the respiteblock. 

“Of course!”

He grinned at his lusus who did not seem to understand anything.

“Gwilyn was completely right! The only troll to even be a possibility here is the Soulless, it all makes perfect sense. He had the same powers as Thikin, he could receive visions about the game, and he was just as mysterious and secretive as his descendant!”

The platypus growled, reminding Priley of a little, though not unimportant detail.

“I know what Thikin had said! ‘He has never spoken about this prophecy in his entire lifetime, I would know.’”

The tealblood clapped his hands. 

“But Thikin does not know everything! And I am sure there is some way to manipulate his visions, somehow.”

His lusus made another sound, and it was quite possible Priley was now just imagining things, but this noise sounded an awful lot like...

“Crowley!” The scientist widened his eyes. “But he is only – no, he is not only a bird! But he could not possible be responsible for –“

The white crow _had been_ responsible for Thikin’s visions, the rustblood had said so himself. But there was no way Crowley could actually channel what the troll was seeing, that idea was just downright absurd. On the other hand, Unurak had called the bird a guardian, and Priley was convinced this was not just a synonym for lusus.

The tealblood decided to make use of the internet, maybe he would be able to find help there – someone surely had already reported an encounter with a creature like Crowley, the internet had everything!

But just when Priley was about to open his browser, a message popped up:

He had just been invited to a memo.


	17. Chapter 17

\-- wingedGladiator [WG] opened private memo on board game discussion. --

\-- wingedGladiator [WG] invited sleepyWanderer [SW] \--

\-- wingedGladiator [WG] invited joyfulCrony [JC] \--

\-- wingedGladiator [WG] invited existentialisticScientist [ES] \--

\-- wingedGladiator [WG] invited waryDefender [WD] \--

WG: there we go.   
WG: priley, if you don’t mind, please tell thikin about what we’re dis<ussing here!

\-- existentialisticScientist [ES] responded to memo --

ES: [Hello, + everyone.]

\-- joyfulCrony [JC] responded to memo --

JC: hey priley! C:  
ES: [Hey!]  
ES: [It seems - that I have x completely + forgotten to tell you that - Thikin is on + Trollian now.]

\-- waryDefender [WD] responded to memo --

WD: And I was h( )ping f( )r s( )me pea(e f( )r ( )n(e.

\-- sleepyWanderer [SW] responded to memo --

SW: exactly.  
WG: well, if that’s the <ase, please invite him so we <an get this done properly!  
ES: [On my - way.]

\-- existentialisticScientist [ES] invited ulteriorDemise [UD] \--

\-- ulteriorDemise [UD] responded to memo --

UD: oI-- GreeTings.  
WD: Sin(e when d( ) y( )u have a (( )mputer, anyway?  
UD: oI-- IT’s Priley’s.  
WD: And let me guess, he als( ) taught y( )u t( ) read and write.  
UD: oI-- Basically.  
WG: well, that’s pretty great of you, priley! sure will help during the session.  
SW: as if anyone would talk to him.  
WD: At least I (ertainly w( )n’t.  
WG: guys! :<  
WG: stop arguing for on<e, this is important!  
UD: oI-- I’m noT saying anyThing.

\-- uberVirus [UV] invited himself --

\-- uberVirus [UV] responded to memo --

UV: AND K33P I7 7HA7 WAY!!!  
WD: ...

\-- sleepyWanderer [SW] banned uberVirus [UV] from responding to memo. --

ES: [...who w42 + this?]

\-- uberVirus [UV] unbanned himself from responding to memo. --

UV: S7OP BANNING M3 ASSHO13!!11!

\-- sleepyWanderer [SW] banned uberVirus [UV] from responding to memo. --

\-- uberVirus [UV] unbanned himself from responding to memo. --

UV: 10_01  
WG: unurak!  
SW: what.  
WG: at least give him time to say what he wants!  
SW: id rather not.  
UV: 1e_e1  
WG: okay, stranger.  
UD: oI-- Zelusc.  
ES: [W42 x that not the + one you got the - SGRUB copies + from?]  
UV: 3XAC71Y!!  
UV: I’M H3R3 7O SAY  
UV: 7HA7 MY AC7UA11Y INCR3DIB1Y S7UPID S3SSION SHOU1DN’7 B3 13F7 OU7 IN 7HIS SHI77Y M3MO!!1!!  
UV: B3CAUS3  
UV: W3’R3 GONNA P1AY 700 AND WIN AGAINS7 YOU ASSHO13S!!1!!11  
JC: :C  
UD: oI-- Told you.  
UV: SHU7 UP!!!1

\-- uberVirus [UV] invited lightspeedRunner [LR] \--

\-- uberVirus [UV] invited burningBolide [BB] \--

\-- uberVirus [UV] invited chemicalChameleon [CC] \--

\-- uberVirus [UV] invited voyagingZingaro [VZ] \--

\-- uberVirus [UV] invited unbreakableAristocrat [UA] \--

\-- uberVirus [UV] invited shockingAshore [SA] \--

\-- unbreakableAristocrat [UA] responded to memo --

UA: |W|hat the FUKK.  
UD: oI-- Oh, greaT. Everyone I don’T like.

\-- burningBolide [BB] responded to memo --

BB: <~ Thik³s!  
BB: <~ Sin{³ wh³n do you hav³ Trollian?  
UD: oI-- Since my moirail inTroduced me To Technology.  
ES: [R)]  
BB: <~ Moirail? Whoa, good lu{k, bro!  
BB: <~ ];)  
UV: HIM3RO SHU7 UP  
UV: I GO7 YOU H3R3 ON1Y FOR GAM3 SHI7

\-- shockingAshore [SA] responded to memo --

SA: \N\ just ‘cause we wanted ya t(/) be there, he didn’t!!!  
UA: Pretty sure I didn’t either.

\-- voyagingZingaro [VZ] responded to memo --

VZ: </// Or i for that matter! \\\\\>  
BB: <~ You’r³ su{h a GR³AT h³lp, Khalio.  
BB: <~ Impr³ssiv³.  
WG: okay, whoever most of you even are, i think there’s been a misunderstanding!  
WG: if you wanna play, then great, but this is our memo! go make an own one if you feel like it.  
UA: That’s a valid excuse to get the FUKK out of here, eh?

\-- lightspeedRunner [LR] responded to memo --

LR: /i suppose so, sir.\  
UA: We will leave then.  
UV: DON’7 YOU DAR3!!1!1!

\-- unbreakableAristocrat [UA] banned lightspeedRunner [LR] from responding to memo. --

\-- unbreakableAristocrat [UA] banned himself from responding to memo. --

UV: 10_01  
SW: good.  
SW: now everyone else too.  
BB: <~ Go to sl³³p alr³ady, browni³.  
SW: im so glad youll be dead soon.  
VZ: </// Hey! \\\\\>

\-- chemicalChameleon [CC] responded to memo --

CC: G\uyz, zeriouzly!  
CC: zhut up!  
UD: oI-- You know whaT? JusT leave This memo and don’T come back.  
UD: oI-- All of you noT desTined players.  
WD: I agree. We have things t( ) dis(uss.  
BB: <~ Fin³, fin³. I’m out th³n.

\-- burningBolide [BB] ceased responding to memo. --

SW: could like.  
SW: the rest of you.  
SW: also do that?  
UD: oI-- OTherwise I’ll haunT you forever, Khalio.  
VZ: </// :o \\\\\>  
VZ: </// Okay okay i’m gone! \\\\\>

\-- voyagingZingaro [VZ] ceased responding to memo. --

UD: oI-- That was easy.  
UV: AND MY KISM3SIS IS FUCKING DISCONN3C7ING  
UV: WHA7 KIND OF C00P 3V3N IS 7HA7  
UV: N00B!!1!!1  
WG: seriously though. <ould you please just all leave already?  
JC: yeah! were not making any progress here :C  
CC: fine then G:  
CC: no reazon for me to ztay anyway  
CC: and zeluzc if you care then fuck off az well  
CC: and you come too zlido!  
SA: \N\ ‘kay fine!!!   
SA: \N\ this wasn’t t(/)(/) great here anyway!   
SA: \N\ :Z)

\-- shockingAshore [SA] ceased responding to memo. --

CC: well then i’m out! G:

\-- chemicalChameleon [CC] ceased responding to memo. --

UV: DAMN I7 YOU’R3 A11 SUCK3RS  
UV: I CAN’7 FUCKING B31I3V3 I’M P1AYING WITH YOU N00BS!!1!  
UV: BU7 W3’11 WIN 7HIS SHI7  
UV: CAUS3 I’M 7H3 MAS73R!  
UV: N000000000BS!!!1111!!!!!111!1!1

\-- uberVirus [UV] ceased responding to memo. --

WD: Sigh.  
SW: good.  
SW: theyre gone.  
ES: [Really - though. + Who were they?]  
WG: well, i didn’t know half of them!  
JC: the rUstblood is nivali! C:  
SW: and that pissbloods himero.  
UD: oI-- And They’re all noT imporTanT.   
UD: oI-- We should finally sTarT wiTh why we are here.  
WG: i agree! <:  
SW: well then.  
SW: thought id let you know.  
SW: failing at entering the game.  
SW: is certain death.  
JC: !!! :C  
WD: I’m f( )r n( )t menti( )ning that again.  
WG: yeah! :<  
UD: oI-- You beTTer geT used To ThaT.  
WG: thikin!  
UD: oI-- JusT saying.  
ES: [Okay, so. We + all need a - client x and a server, + yes?]  
SW: yeah.  
WG: who’s entering first?  
WD: N( )t me ( )r Jayven.  
JC: C:  
WD: It’s t( )( ) danger( )us, and we all d( )n’t kn( )w what t( ) expe(t.  
WD: M( )st ( )f us, at least.  
UD: oI-- The lasT one in The chain is also The firsT server.  
UD: oI-- And everyThing depends on him, I’d say.  
WD: Y( )u (an d( ) that then.  
SW: no.  
WD: Why n( )t? He has his visi( )ns.  
SW: i will.  
SW: derse has prepared me well enough.  
WD: ...fair en( )ugh.  
WG: then i’ll enter first! <:  
WG: i’m the leader, after all.  
UD: oI-- Look who’s proud of ThaT all of a sudden.  
WG: i’m not proud, i’m just saying!  
ES: [I x volunteer + for being - Arlath’s client then.]  
WG: <:  
WG: and thikin <an be your <lient!  
WD: ( )bje(tion.  
WG: what’s wrong with that?  
WD: That w( )uld leave Thikin as either my ( )r Jayven’s server.  
WD: N( )thing any ( )f us want.  
UD: oI-- Then I will change places with Priley.  
UD: oI-- I geT along well enough with ArlaTh To be his clienT.  
UD: oI-- And someone has To sTop This serious maTTer from escalaTing inTo a romanTic comedy.  
WD: ...  
SW: ha.  
JC: C:  
ES: [...]  
ES: [Do you - think you x can manage + being my server?]  
UD: oI-- Of course I can.  
ES: [Of - course, right.]  
ES: [Gwilyn, do + you want x to be - my client?]  
WD: S( )unds g( )( )d.  
JC: that means im yoUr Client! C:  
WD: W( )uldn’t have a((epted anything else.  
JC: and that also means im yoUr server UnUrak!  
SW: im fine with that.  
WG: alright then, let’s re<ap.  
WG: i’ll enter first, then thikin and priley.  
WD: And then me and Jayven.  
SW: and ill be the last one.  
JC: soUnds good to me! C:  
ES: [Yes, it + all works - out.]  
WG: we’re finished here then, i suppose.   
WG: prepare yourselves for tomorrow!  
SW: will do.  
SW: ill message you soon enough. arlath.  
WG: alright! and everyone, don’t forget to be online tomorrow as well!  
JC: okay! C:  
WD: Well then, I will take leave.   
WD: Stay safe, every( )ne.  
WD: And be (areful.  
JC: bye gwilyn! C:  
UD: oI-- Yes, see you.

\-- waryDefender [WD] ceased responding to memo. --

JC: so will i then! C:  
WG: goodbye, jayven!  
ES: [Yes, - goodbye. R)]  
JC: C:

\-- joyfulCrony [JC] ceased responding to memo. --

SW: ill go as well.  
SW: take a last nap and all.  
SW: talk to you tomorrow.

\-- sleepyWanderer [SW] ceased responding to memo. --

UD: oI-- I sTill don’T like him.  
UD: oI-- Or TrusT him, for ThaT maTTer.  
UD: oI-- But he’s righT abouT leaving.  
UD: oI-- See you Tomorrow, boTh of you.

\-- ulteriorDemise [UD] ceased responding to memo. --

ES: [Alright - then, I + suppose I will get x offline 42 well.]  
WG: wait!  
ES: [Yes?]  
WG: i was wondering...  
WG: <an i take you to my hive tomorrow?  
ES: [Why?]  
WG: i think there’s stuff to talk about.  
ES: [Alright, I would + love to!]  
ES: [But do - we have x time?]  
WG: dad and i’ll pi<k you up as soon as we’re awake!  
ES: [Good thing we + both are early - birds then. R)]  
WG: <:  
WG: alright, priley, see you tomorrow!

\-- wingedGladiator [WG] ceased responding to memo. --

ES: [<3]

\-- existentialisticScientist [ES] has closed the memo. --


	18. Chapter 18

Priley went quickly to coon that morning, wanting to be awake as early as possible. He was going on a real, legitimate date with Arlath, what else could it possibly be?

Thoughts about Thikin and the Soulless and Crowley were still filling his mind – he would make sure to ask Arlath a couple of questions, the jadeblood surely could give him at least some answers.

\---

The loud caw of a giant bird was what woke the tealblood up.

It was quite a majestic creature, yes, but nothing to wake up to when being almost fully asleep. Priley realized: he had overslept!

Panicking and embarrassed, Priley almost even jumped out of his recooperacoon and grabbed his most important clothes; a shirt, pants, and shoes, as well as his glasses. He scurried out of his hiveboat, tripping a couple of times. Arlath was waiting for him, and he should have been awake a long time ago!

Priley eventually fully lost his balance, fell down the gateway, and landed directly in Arlath’s arms.

“The early bird catches the platypus!”, the jadeblood laughed, not seeming angry at all. He quickly let go of his friend, looking him over. “And no labcoat tonight, I’m impressed.”

“I... was in a hurry”, Priley blushed. This was getting so awkward already, and their date had not even started yet!

Gladly enough, Arlath didn’t go into that topic further.

“Well then, it’s officially the end of the world, so let’s hurry up before bad stuff happens and/or Unurak contacts me.”

“Fair enough.”

Priley was still needing help with climbing onto the peagle, and he was more than willing to take Arlath’s. And within only a couple of minutes, they were already soaring in the Alternian night sky. The scientist, again, clinged to his hopefully-soon-to-be-matesprit’s jacket, even though it was rather peaceful around them, especially considering it was the night of the apocalypse. That, however, did not stop the tealblood from being afraid of heights.

“Say... when exactly will we arrive?” His voice was shaking a bit.

“Told you last time, up there on the mountain.” Arlath pointed to the highest mountain of all on the mountainside in front of them.

Priley gulped. He had already realized they had changed directions compared to last time, the Forest of No Souls far behind them. But he had forgotten about the fact that they’d be rising even higher now – and so, the tealblood clinged to Arlath even more.

“Whoa, slow down there, it’s not _that_ high.” The jadeblood seemed well aware that they were at least 1500 feet above the ground, and that _was_ incredibly high. But he also appeared to like teasing Priley.

“Just close your eyes and hug me if it makes you feel better”, Arlath chuckled.

“...alright.” Priley’s cheeks were a bright teal now, and glad his friend was sitting in front of him, he followed Arlath’s advice.

And it helped.

So much, in fact, that he only noticed their arrival at Arlath’s hive when the peagle landed on the ground; and when the jadeblood lifted Priley up to help him get down from the bird.

“...how come you are a jadeblood and this strong?”, Priley asked, still half asleep. He must have taken a nap on the lusus – why was he so tired?

“Must be my manliness”, Arlath grinned, gently setting the tealblood down and taking a seat on the very edge of the mountainous cliff.

“Of course it is”, Priley mumbled slightly nervously, taking his time to inspect his surroundings to avoid having to look down.

Arlath’s hive was of a rather moderate size, a mountain cottage with no notable features. In the also quite modest yard was not much – only a giant nest fit for, and most likely made by, Arlath’s lusus which was now resting in it again.

“Hey, will you be standing there forever? Come on and look at this!”

Priley silently sighed, carefully approaching the other troll step by step.

“I’ll catch you if you fall”, Arlath exclaimed, at the same time grabbing Priley’s arm and pulling him down.

The tealblood let out a short sound of surprise as he got dragged, then managed to catch himself and sit down somewhat comfortably a few steps away from the edge.

“What was that for?”

Arlath just shrugged. “You were being slower than Unurak.” Then he sighed, more amused than angry, and dragged himself over to the scientist. He put his hands on Priley’s head, forcing him to look straight ahead.

And Priley, yet again, was speechless.

Above them was only the sky now; the other mountains, forests and rivers and everything else were all beneath the two trolls. There were a lot of clouds in the sky, stopping the stars from showing their light, but Priley was still stunned by what he was seeing.

“How come you all have such impressive views from your hives?”

“It’s better at day”, Arlath admitted, causing Priley to laugh.

“You can stop telling me how great being a jadeblood is, thank you.”

“Just saying”, the other troll replied, only to be interrupted by Priley again.

“Say, how do you think the world is going to end?”

Arlath looked upwards, at all the clouds above them.

“Looks like rain. Maybe a thunderstorm. But we still have time”, he added quickly, looking at Priley again. “Unurak’s a heavy sleeper, you know.”

This reminded Priley of the incident minutes ago.

“I apologize for oversleeping, by the way. I... had some thinking to do.”

Arlath’s face lit up.

“Did you finish your ancestor’s journal?”

Priley shook his head.

“I had to stop at one point.”

“How so?”

The tealblood hesitated. How much should he tell him?

“Arlath, what do you know about Thikin’s ancestor?”

“The Soulless?” Arlath shrugged. “Not much, honestly. Just that he’s how Thikin’s forest got its name, and that he didn’t do anything but kill highbloods. Does your ancestor know more?”

Priley nodded, glad Arlath figured it out already.

“He wrote at least five pages about him, but unfortunately, he had to remove them because the Soulless apparently had something to hide!”

“Doesn’t surprise me.” The jadeblooded seemed more interested now. “Why are you asking?”

“Because”, Priley replied, reaching out for the prophecy note before realizing he was not wearing his labcoat, “the Soulless is responsible for the prophecy!”

Arlath tilted his head, looking genuinely surprised.

“But didn’t Thikin say his ancestor never even spoke about it once?”

“Yes, but he does not know everything!”

Priley then proceeded to tell Arlath everything he had come up with last night, even the part about Crowley. But Arlath did not seem to be convinced at all.

“I don’t know, Priley. Seems pretty far-fetched to me.”

“But it is true!”, the tealblood replied frustratedly. “I have proof and you have heard it!”

“Just assumptions”, Arlath countered.

“No!” Priley pouted. “This is important, you cannot prefer Thikin’s opinion if I have proof and he has not!”

“Well, I do!” Arlath glared at his friend. “Thikin never lies, and I’ve learned to trust him ever since we first met.”

The scientist blinked. “You never told me about that!”

“I’ve promised not to tell anyone, and so did he.” Arlath paused for a moment. “Sorry.”

Priley sighed, not making a secret out of his disappointment. “It is alright, I understand.”

“Hey”, Arlath poked him. “Don’t make such a face! I might not be agreeing with you at some things, but if they do turn out right, you can come and make fun of me for not believing you, okay?”

“Haha, alright!” The tealblood smiled again. How could he ever be mad at Arlath?

“And besides”, the other troll added, “If your ideas are the truth, and you’re this good at making connections, shouldn’t you be able to decode the rest of the prophecy as well?”

“That is what I am saying!”, Priley exclaimed excitedly.

“Huh?”

“ _Seek the past and place the blame!_ ”, Priley quoted. “Seeking the lives of our ancestors and unraveling the truth!”

“You have a point there”, Arlath then agreed. “But if you want to convince me, you’ll have to give me some actual evidence. Or find out who the _Rainmaker_ is, that’d also be a start.”

Just in that moment, it started to rain.

“Might as well be you”, Priley laughed, standing up. “I better leave now though, I guess. The apocalypse seems to be starting.”

“Wait!” Arlath grabbed his friend’s leg to keep him from leaving, then stood up as well when Priley ceased to move. The jadeblood now sounded rather... nervous.

“I, um... say, let’s assume that Rhopilee or Soulless or whatever is right about all of that stuff...”

“Yes?” What was his point? Why was Arlath suddenly so odd? Could it be, that...

“Do you think... that, you know, maybe... they were also right about, say...” The jadeblood blushed as he spoke his last words that weren’t much more than a whisper. “Quadrants?”

Yes! Yes, it was.

Priley stood there silently for a moment, blushing slightly as well. He asked! Not Priley himself, it was Arlath! He... he returned his feelings.

“I suppose we are thinking the same, then.”

“We are?”

Sounded like Arlath had not expected this reply – and neither had Priley been expecting the question before.

“If you are thinking what I am thinking, then yes.”

“Are you thinking what I am thinking you are thinking?”

Priley nodded. “I am thinking what you are thinking I am thinking you-“

And then, he was interrupted.

Interrupted by lips suddenly touching his own ones.

Priley stood completely still. He could not believe it, and he constantly had to make sure he was not dreaming. Was Arlath really... yes, he was. As the rain continued to fall, having already grown to a thunderstorm, more than a thousand feet above the ground, the jadeblooded troll was kissing the scientist. His lips were warmer than the tealblood’s, and even though Priley had never been kissed before, he just felt that Arlath was incredibly skilled at it. The tealblood was absolutely certain that even though the world was ending, this was the best moment of his life.

It ended with a terribly loud crash.

Arlath pulled away almost immediately after it, turning his head into the direction it came from, to the landscape they had just been marveling at. Priley followed the other troll’s eyes, and what he saw left him shocked.

The forest was burning in spite of the rain, and a large crater had deformed the ground. In it was a huge rock, and Priley did not need to be a scientist to know what that was.

“A meteor!”, he yelped.

“...fuck.” That was all Arlath replied, pointing at the sky. Again, Priley followed his gaze, and he widened his eyes when he saw that many other meteors were already on their way. Arlath suddenly pulled out his phone, looking unnaturally frightened, and looking over his matesprit’s – or so he supposed – shoulder, the tealblood saw that he had received at least ten messages from Unurak.

“You... why did you not reply?” There was no need to hide how much he was panicking right now.

“How should I’ve known he was contacting me?”, Arlath yelled back, clearly not knowing what to do. “I was having a date!”

Not even Priley could be happy about the last statement.

“Why are you not doing anything? You have to start the game, Gwilyn and Jayven are out there!” The tealblood’s voice was shaking as much as his hand he now pointed at the land beneath them. Thikin could hopefully take care of himself – he also had Crowley, after all.

Arlath nodded and grabbed Priley’s arm, running to his lusus that was already in a position ready to fly.

“Dad, you’ve got to get him back to his hive!”, he shouted over the sound of thunder. Hastily, he helped Priley sit up, looking at him one last time. “Stay safe.”

“I will try”, Priley replied, clinging to the peagle as it flew off. He was sure Arlath could not hear him anymore, now that the jadeblood was running inside his hive and he himself was on his way back to his boat already, but still, he added: “Good luck!”

The peagle was flying across the land about ten times faster than before – at least it felt like it. The bird dodged lightning and meteors and determinedly made its way to Priley’s hiveboat. The troll’s glasses were covered in raindrops, and he himself was completely rain-drenched and fearing for his life every single second. He had no idea when, or if, they would arrive at his hive, and he let out a relieved sigh when they finally did.

But there was no time for a break. The waves of the river were rolling, the stream itself burst its banks, and the only thing lighting up the completely dark place were the fire of the colliding meteors and the occassional lightning.

“Stay safe.” Priley replied Arlath’s words to the peagle that now took off again after the scientist had jumped down, hoping it would return to the jadeblood alive. It replied with a caw, and just after the bird’s call, Priley ran across the boat’s gateway and into his respiteblock, activating his husktop and desperately counting the seconds until it was fully booted. With shaking hands - and his lusus hiding from the storm under the husktop’s table, not less frightened than the troll – Priley pulled the SGRUB client disc out of its envelope and inserted it. 

SGRUB version 0.0.1

© SKAIANET SYSTEMS INCORPORATED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

SGRUB client is running.

Waiting for server to establish connection…

Time was running out, and all Priley could do now was wait.

_Hurry up, Thikin_ , he thought as he could hear the thunder outside becoming louder than before. 

_Hurry up._


	19. Chapter 19

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick – 

_Crash!_

Priley jumped. He had been staring on the screen of his husktop for minutes now, listening to the constant noise his clock made. His houseboat was rocking, and the waves rising higher – and the tealblood was certain the meteors would not be sparing him for much time longer. But as the boat was struck by yet another mighty wave, a sound came from a nearby room. 

And Priley knew it was the storage chamber for his chemicals.

“Wait here!”, he told his lusus, even more panicking than he had been ever since the first meteor had landed. He rushed over to the small room, hoping he was not too late – but the once neatly arranged place was now a complete mess. Something had exploded, various test tubes were lying on the ground, and a terrible scent filled the troll’s nose. It was only a coincidence that the entire room was not burning... yet. He had to stop that from happening! But how?

“Why is Thikin not here when I need him?”, the scientist wondered, even though he had no idea how the rustblood could have helped him in this situation.

Just then, a crack appeared on the ceiling. It spread across the room’s roof quickly, and suddenly, Priley could see the sky above him. The rain poured into the chamber, causing even more weird reactions – and small explosions – with the released chemicals.

Priley took no actions to avoid the explosions. He just stared at the gaping hole above him. Where did his roof go this suddenly?

As he took a closer look, he could make out something in the sky. It was coming nearer, but it was too small to be a meteor, and not on fire either.

Within seconds, it was hovering right in front of him. And it was... a cursor?

Yes. 

A dark red cursor in the shape of a hive, with six sections and a roof.

A smile spread across Priley’s face when he realized it, and he could not help but exclaim loudly:

“Thikin!”

He immediately ran back to his husktop, and indeed, something had changed!

A SGRUB host user is attempting to connect with you.

Client has established connection with host.

Press [ENTER] when ready.

Priley did what the program wanted, and immediately, a loading screen appeared. A rust-colored spirograph was swirling in front of fastly changing colors, and within only seconds, the writing SGRUB faded into view. 

The screen window went completely black afterwards, and Priley noticed he had received a message on Trollian.

\-- ulteriorDemise [UD] started trolling existentialisticScientist [ES] \--

UD: oI-- AlrighT, I’m here.  
UD: oI-- Time’s running ouT, you beTTer reply soon.

The tealblood wondered how long ago Thikin had sent those messages. Hopefully just a minute ago...

ES: [Thikin!]  
ES: [Yes, I + am here. I apologize, the - river is pretty rough.]  
UD: oI-- Landdwellers don’T belong on waTer, seriously.  
ES: [Hey!]  
ES: [Also, are x you really... ThaT?]

He glanced over his shoulder and noticed the cursor was still there.

UD: oI-- Sure.   
UD: oI-- I don’T really know how To do This, Technology and all.  
UD: oI-- I’ll jusT copy ArlaTh.

Right, Arlath! Priley blushed a little when remembering what had happened this night. Did Thikin know?

ES: [Is he - alright?]  
UD: oI-- Probably. AT leasT he was when he helped me in.

Priley could not help but gasp slightly.

ES: [He is + in the game x already?]  
UD: oI-- WhaT did you Think?   
UD: oI-- So am I, for ThaT maTTer.  
ES: [Really? What + is it like?]  
UD: oI-- Don’T you Think we should discuss This later?  
ES: [Right, my bad.] 

The tealblood remembered he had basically no idea what he had to do, or what was going to happen in the first place.

ES: [My screen is - black. What do x I do?]  
UD: oI-- ThaT’s normal. JusT do as I say.  
ES: [Alright. And what - would that be?]  
UD: oI-- You really need more space.  
ES: [What?]  
UD: oI-- IT was no issue for me and The foresT, buT I can’T deploy anyThing in here.  
UD: oI-- WaiT a second.

Just when Priley was about to ask what his friend meant by that, the cursor moved and changed its shape a little, now hovering across the room.

Within seconds, there was a loud noise – and at least fifty feet of new, empty space.

ES: [Did you just + do that?]  
UD: oI-- Of course. 

With another loud sound, a tall device appeared in the room extension. It was just as long as it was high, and Priley could absolutely not tell what it was.

ES: [What is that?]  
UD: oI-- IT’s called a ToTem LaThe.  
ES: [And what + does it do?]  
UD: oI-- You’ll see.

That was not helping. But the scientist trusted Thikin, he knew what he was doing. He always did.

It did not take long until the rustblood deployed another device. This one was wider, but smaller than the last one.

UD: oI-- ThaT’s the CruxTuder.  
UD: oI-- Looks like I don’T have enough space for The lasT machine Though.  
ES: [Then make x more room like you - did before!]  
UD: oI-- I can’T. Your river’s not allowing ThaT and I can’T manipulate anyThing ouTside.   
UD: oI-- Guess I’ll have To get rid of some of your Things.  
ES: [What?]

Before Priley could have done anything, the cursor lifted the table he always used for experiments – and picked it up. Thikin dragged it through the roof and most likely let go of it outside, at least Priley was sure he would never see it again.

ES: [What did + you do!]

Now the rain was getting into this room as well, and Priley’s beloved table was gone.

UD: oI-- TrusT me.

Thikin now seemed to use another option of the game and closed the roof again. It was just like nothing had ever happened at all! And then, he deployed another - the last one, he said – device; a large, almost flat rectangular thing.

UD: oI-- ThaT's all. Your Turn.  
ES: [Thank you - for repairing the + ceiling.]  
ES: [So, what x do I do?]  
UD: oI-- Open The lid of The CruxTuder.

Was that the second one? Priley quickly went over to it. Indeed, there was a large lid with the same spirograph as the loading screen on it. The tealblood was not the strongest troll, but eventually, he managed to get it off – and he was greeted by a bright, teal light. It soon faded, however, and what remained was a levitating spherical thing that was quickly flashing between teal, white and black. 

What was that?

Priley ran over to his husktop again to ask Thikin.

UD: oI-- ThaT’s a spriTe.  
ES: [And + what does it do?]  
UD: oI-- Unurak made ArlaTh proToType iT wiTh his dead lusus.

Wait.

ES: [Arlath’s lusus - is dead?]  
UD: oI-- STruck by lighTning, as far as I know.  
ES: [R(]   
UD: oI-- STop with ThaT face. ApparenTly, making iT a spriTe makes iT be alive again.  
ES: [Really?]  
UD: oI-- Yeah, and iT’s Talking. AT leasT as soon as you’re in the game.  
ES: [You are x kidding me!]  
UD: oI-- I’m noT. TrusT me, I have proof.  
ES: [What did you - prototype?]  
UD: oI-- Crowley.

Priley widened his eyes. He knew how powerful that bird was – teleporting and vision manipulating. Did Thikin not know this was dangerous?

UD: oI-- He flew in iT, I didn’T make him.  
UD: oI-- AT leasT he disappeared immediaTely, who knows whaT he’s up To.

The tealblood was not sure whether this was much of a relief...

ES: [Do I need to + prototype my lusus?]  
UD: oI-- I don’T see why noT.

Priley looked at the platypus that had been hiding under the husktop table the whole time.

“Platypapa, what do you think?”

The lusus made a still frightened noise, but nodded its head.

“Alright then.”

Priley reached out and grabbed the platypus before walking over to the Cruxtuder again. The sprite was still floating there, and the troll held out his lusus, carefully approaching the sprite. He felt it drawing the platypus in, and let go just in time.

Priley closed his eyes at the flash of light, and opened them again to find the teal sprite still there – and the head of his lusus being a part of it. The troll blinked in surprise, and was actually sort of content the prototyped sprite still did nothing but levitate.

As he was about to get back to his computer, Priley noticed a timer on the side of the Cruxtuder. 

6:18

ES: [Thikin, this x sprite is actually + quite... unsettling. Why is it - only a head?]  
UD: oI-- Weird, iT was not when Crowley was proToTyped.  
ES: [Is that bad?]  
UD: oI-- I don’T Think so.  
ES: [And what is + that countdown?]  
UD: oI-- ThaT’s how much Time you have lefT To enTer the game. IT’s on 8:18 for all of us when we open The lid.  
ES: [Well, then we - better hurry up! What x next?]  
UD: oI-- Turn The wheel of The CruxTuder and you’ll get a cruxiTe dowel.

Priley did what he was told and received a teal cylinder. It was only now he began to understand that the objects are always colored in the player’s blood color – however that was even possible.

UD: oI-- Now clamp The dowel in The ToTem LaThe.  
UD: oI-- Also, puT This card inTo The sloT.

Again, the tealblood followed Thikin’s instructions. The cursor had just dropped a card with holes in it in front of Priley, and he inserted it just like his server had said. He turned a wheel on the device and watched as a totem was carved out of the dowel.

Throwing a glance at the countdown, he still had two minutes left.

UD: oI-- We’re well on schedule.  
ES: [Really? That + sure is a relief. I w42 getting - worried.]  
UD: oI-- As usual.  
ES: [It *is* the end + of the world.]  
UD: oI-- I know.  
ES: [Okay, well. What x now?]   
UD: oI-- JusT deploy The ToTem on The AlchemiTer.

Priley hurried up and put the totem on the matching small platform. The long arm attached to the Alchemiter started to move and turned the totem into a... small mechanical device.

ES: [What should + I do with that?]  
UD: oI-- I acTually have no idea.  
ES: [What? Did you - not receive that x object?]  
UD: oI-- HonesTly, no.  
UD: oI-- For me, iT was a, whaT do you call iT, a quill?  
ES: [And what + did you do?]  
UD: oI-- WriTe wiTh iT, of course. And Then, well, I found myself in The game.  
ES: [So all I - have to do is... do what I x have to do with that thing - and that is it?]  
UD: oI-- ExacTly.  
ES: [But I do not + know what it - is!]  
UD: oI-- I also didn’T know abouT mine aT firsT, iT was jusT a feaTher To me.  
UD: oI-- BuT ArlaTh helped a biT.  
ES: [Well, you are not x helping me!]

He looked at the countdown.

0:59

ES: [Quick, what + do I do?]  
UD: oI-- Sorry, but iT’s really on you To find ouT. I’m noT good wiTh Technology.  
ES: [I am not - either!]  
UD: oI-- Huh?  
ES: [I am x always staying away + from practical science because I am - not good at it!]  
ES: [You have - seen it!]  
UD: oI-- Oh, ThaT.  
UD: oI-- Well, I couldn’T wriTe eiTher, on The compuTer only because of you, buT I Tried iT in The end.  
UD: oI-- ThaT mighT even be The poinT of Those iTems.   
UD: oI-- Make us do Things we fear doing.  
UD: oI-- You’re a smarT Troll, Try figure someThing ouT before The meTeor headed for your hive arrives in like ThirTy seconds.  
ES: [What?]

0:30

Great.

Priley ran over to the object again. Now that he looked at it, it seemed strangely familiar. But where had he seen something like it before?

0:25

That shape, that structure, that size... yes!

He looked upwards. There it was. The sprinkler that released water should an experiment involving fire ever go wrong. But how did he activate it?

With heat, of course! But where did Priley leave his matches? _Think, Priley, think..._

0:20

In the storage room!

The troll rushed to that place, throwing boxes over and breaking glass - only to find the matches lying right in front of him.

He ran back to the teal sprinkler and set one of the matches on fire as fast as he could.

0:10

Finally! He held it close to the sprinkler, waiting for it to activate.

0:07

Why was it taking so long?

0:05

Yes! The machine opened up and released the rain just in time.

0:03

Priley took a deep breath as he saw the light of the flaming meteor and even felt the warmth of the impending collision.

0:02

This was it.

0:01

This was the end.

0:00

\---

[ ===> ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1182820)


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